I have had a few database projects obsoleted when the DB maker has closed down or was bought and the app shot down, shied me away from depending on commercial/a

I have had a few database projects obsoleted when the DB maker has closed down or was bought and the app shot down, shied me away from depending on commercial/activation limited options. So last time, I went for open source for the DB selected MySQL and haven't look back (now its MariaDB, easy transition) It was open source, easy to use, I could have an installation backup ready if needed, and very popular, might not be shiny new but was dependable for what we use it for. You may need to find some distributed solution for an OSS DB (or roll your own, depends on the complexity/size), but where there's a will, and good community resources, there is certainly a way. Likely means data conversion, no matter the DB, unless your distributed data, IDs, and tables are basically generic fields, there will need to be some conversion done for any alternative. Also, if you want long-term, don't go for cutting edge, boring and reliable is better.