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Pure nonsense, except for the licensing cost comment. SQL Server has arguably the best query planner/optimizer in the RDBMS space, and it also has tons of mana

Pure nonsense, except for the licensing cost comment. SQL Server has arguably the best query planner/optimizer in the RDBMS space, and it also has tons of management tools and simple integrations in a Windows environment (tight AD integration) that admin very easy. If cost were no object and you need a DB that requires essentially zero babysitting after the initial setup, SQL Server is a better choice than PG. TSQL takes some getting used to, but it allows for powerful/flexible stored procedures that can replace the vast majority of external business logic (for better or worse, depending on the application architecture.) That said, PG is definitely more flexible with things like custom types and all the extensions you can add, and SQL Server's better query/clustered index performance isn't likely to make a huge difference in most workloads. The cost of SQL Server is also outrageous, especially run on large (CPU) instances. PG is usually a better choice for cost alone, but SQL Server is not an inferior DB by any means.

AtlasBarfed 3y ago
Saying a proprietary database works well with a proprietary operating system is not a feature in the age of IaC and the cloud. I understand there are still loads of enterprises stuck in the windows zone, but ... It's not ideal. As for query performance, I doubt it id that significant... Well, unless you are constrained by a proprietary db license and approved CPU count / machine size and need to squeeze more from less. Because if you are on postgres and are bumping into hardware limits, a slightly better query planner is a very short term bandaid. At that point, you are likely a year past the point where you should take your biggest queries and refactor/architect scale them to dynamo or Cassandra or something like that. I mean, bragging about active directory integration in 2024. It should be a dumb LDAP / identity provider,not some chain bonding you to Microsoft software in perpetuity.
- briHass 3y ago
  It's not necessarily a good choice for cloud, where the DBA-level responsibilities are handled for you, and the per-hour premium doesn't buy you much. SQL Azure is really only a fit for applications/expertise already tied to SQL Server, not something that would be a first choice for greenfield work. However, assuming a non-cloud environment (on-prem), SQL Server Standard on a powerful server can go a very long way for about $7-10K in one-time licensing cost. This also buys you product support, which doesn't exist for free for PG.

AtlasBarfed 3y ago

Saying a proprietary database works well with a proprietary operating system is not a feature in the age of IaC and the cloud. I understand there are still loads of enterprises stuck in the windows zone, but ... It's not ideal. As for query performance, I doubt it id that significant... Well, unless you are constrained by a proprietary db license and approved CPU count / machine size and need to squeeze more from less. Because if you are on postgres and are bumping into hardware limits, a slightly better query planner is a very short term bandaid. At that point, you are likely a year past the point where you should take your biggest queries and refactor/architect scale them to dynamo or Cassandra or something like that. I mean, bragging about active directory integration in 2024. It should be a dumb LDAP / identity provider,not some chain bonding you to Microsoft software in perpetuity.

briHass 3y ago
It's not necessarily a good choice for cloud, where the DBA-level responsibilities are handled for you, and the per-hour premium doesn't buy you much. SQL Azure is really only a fit for applications/expertise already tied to SQL Server, not something that would be a first choice for greenfield work. However, assuming a non-cloud environment (on-prem), SQL Server Standard on a powerful server can go a very long way for about $7-10K in one-time licensing cost. This also buys you product support, which doesn't exist for free for PG.