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> Replication & performance for most workloads. I'm still not sold that any slight advantage in either of these cases is worth not having a flexible and trustw

> Replication & performance for most workloads. I'm still not sold that any slight advantage in either of these cases is worth not having a flexible and trustworthy tool. > I've found it helpful to think of MySQL as less of a relational database, and more of a KV database with secondary index support and a SQL api. And that's not what most businesses need, especially right out of the gate. From my understanding that's what those large companies you mentioned and Uber do. They also have people who contribute code to mysql or mariadb, allowing them to fix any issues they have. Most businesses do not have that luxury nor would they be best off with only a kv store.

tomnipotent 9y ago
> not having a flexible and trustworthy tool. Everything you've pointed out are great examples of technical demerits... but none that really transfer over in any negative way to the business besides developer frustration. I wouldn't be surprised if MySQL got replication out so earl because it was such a POS that needed a better backup strategy, but that doesn't change the battle-hardened RDBMS it's become today. > And that's not what most businesses need Most businesses don't know what they need until they're a few years in, and database software isn't going to be on any execs top 100 list of things troubling the company. > They also have people who contribute code to mysql or mariadb Contributions that are from non-trivial deployments, supplemented with countless years running in production across millions of installs of Wordpress and phpBB thanks to cheap web hosting - I don't think there's any other database in this category that can claim it has seen more service. It's just another software tool like any other, sorta pointless to shit on it just because you don't have a problem where it works.
- jimktrains2 9y ago
  I'm not going to continue this. MySQL is technically inferior by almost every metric. Businesses don't know what they need, which is why they need something flexible and reliable, not something that will crap out. I honestly don't know why anything but institutional inertia is even a sane reason to use MySQL. There are better rdbms. There are better key value stores.
  - tomnipotent 9y ago
    > I honestly don't know why anything but institutional inertia is even a sane reason to use MySQL Because you clearly lack experience to make this kind of call, but that doesn't stop you from throwing around technical rhetoric like you know what you're talking about. You're essentially claiming that everyone that has or will choose MySQL is an idiot/doesn't know better, and that clearly you know more about the context of our problem, business, and challenges than we do.
    - ben509 9y ago
      > You're essentially claiming that everyone that has or will choose MySQL is an idiot/doesn't know better... Why is that surprising? When I worked in a business to business compsec role, for instance, the vast majority of our customers didn't know how to use `ssh` properly or what public and private keys are. Just because someone has the title "dba" let alone "developer" doesn't mean they know the first thing about the relational model.
- Slansitartop 9y ago
  > Everything you've pointed out are great examples of technical demerits... but none that really transfer over in any negative way to the business besides developer frustration. > Most businesses don't know what they need until they're a few years in, and database software isn't going to be on any execs top 100 list of things troubling the company. A database is a developer tool, it should be evaluated on its technical merits. If its frustrating for developers, it means its harder and more expensive for the business to get what it wants.
  - tomnipotent 9y ago
    > A database is a developer tool, it should be evaluated on its technical merits. If its frustrating for developers And MySQL is such a developer tool, which has been selected by many developers for many reasons for many classes of projects.
    - ben509 9y ago
      So is PHP.

tomnipotent 9y ago

> not having a flexible and trustworthy tool. Everything you've pointed out are great examples of technical demerits... but none that really transfer over in any negative way to the business besides developer frustration. I wouldn't be surprised if MySQL got replication out so earl because it was such a POS that needed a better backup strategy, but that doesn't change the battle-hardened RDBMS it's become today. > And that's not what most businesses need Most businesses don't know what they need until they're a few years in, and database software isn't going to be on any execs top 100 list of things troubling the company. > They also have people who contribute code to mysql or mariadb Contributions that are from non-trivial deployments, supplemented with countless years running in production across millions of installs of Wordpress and phpBB thanks to cheap web hosting - I don't think there's any other database in this category that can claim it has seen more service. It's just another software tool like any other, sorta pointless to shit on it just because you don't have a problem where it works.

jimktrains2 9y ago
I'm not going to continue this. MySQL is technically inferior by almost every metric. Businesses don't know what they need, which is why they need something flexible and reliable, not something that will crap out. I honestly don't know why anything but institutional inertia is even a sane reason to use MySQL. There are better rdbms. There are better key value stores.
- tomnipotent 9y ago
  > I honestly don't know why anything but institutional inertia is even a sane reason to use MySQL Because you clearly lack experience to make this kind of call, but that doesn't stop you from throwing around technical rhetoric like you know what you're talking about. You're essentially claiming that everyone that has or will choose MySQL is an idiot/doesn't know better, and that clearly you know more about the context of our problem, business, and challenges than we do.
  - ben509 9y ago
    > You're essentially claiming that everyone that has or will choose MySQL is an idiot/doesn't know better... Why is that surprising? When I worked in a business to business compsec role, for instance, the vast majority of our customers didn't know how to use `ssh` properly or what public and private keys are. Just because someone has the title "dba" let alone "developer" doesn't mean they know the first thing about the relational model.
Slansitartop 9y ago
> Everything you've pointed out are great examples of technical demerits... but none that really transfer over in any negative way to the business besides developer frustration. > Most businesses don't know what they need until they're a few years in, and database software isn't going to be on any execs top 100 list of things troubling the company. A database is a developer tool, it should be evaluated on its technical merits. If its frustrating for developers, it means its harder and more expensive for the business to get what it wants.
- tomnipotent 9y ago
  > A database is a developer tool, it should be evaluated on its technical merits. If its frustrating for developers And MySQL is such a developer tool, which has been selected by many developers for many reasons for many classes of projects.
  - ben509 9y ago
    So is PHP.