Re: Is my MySQL Gaining ? - Mailing list pgsql-general

From Tony
Subject Re: Is my MySQL Gaining ?
Date
Msg-id 3FEEF724.1000004@unihost.net
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In response to Re: Is my MySQL Gaining ?  (Casey Allen Shobe <cshobe@softhome.net>)
Responses Re: Is my MySQL Gaining ?  (Casey Allen Shobe <cshobe@softhome.net>)
List pgsql-general
The native windows port is certainly useful for me.... when I was developing for MySQL applications, I always ran a copy on my Windows laptop which started as a service, and was most useful.  I used to Rapid Devel and prototype all of my DB apps this way.

Whilst I can
(and do) run PG on my laptop, it not nearly as straight forward, and when wanting to share my work with others at a conference, trying to explain to them that they need to install Cygwin and IPC stuff and then download PG then compile it, etc, etc.  They usually lose interest quickly. 

When people want to try/play/prototype, installing Unix (many companies still don't have spare, non-essential unix/linux boxen kicking around to play with.

You don't understand the mindset behind the *yapping* MySQL users because you DO understand PostgreSQL, because you appear to judge other people by your own standards, instead of saying to yourself "There but for the Grace of PostgreSQL Go I"

Try to understand that not everyone is blessed by your knowledge of PG, or by your clarity of thought.  It's easy to start throwing stones and rocks at people, but I'm sure that we could all be criticised on our choice of our software choices in one respect or another, since  none of us are beyond reproach, and we can't all be experts at everything.

The only reason that I'm making these points is that a few weeks ago I thought the world was flat too, but a few people on this list took time to explain to me with fact based points that the world was in fact spherical and PG was a good thing.

How can you expect someone to understand why Nested Select staments are good, if they ndo ot necessarilly understand what they might be good for.  In my experience,  more than one time when investigating PG I had a list of features MySQL lacked blurted at me without even considering whether I understood what was being said.  It may as well have been Charlie Brown's Teacher talking to me ("whah whah, whah whah")

Remember Windows/MySQL users are Windows users usually for three reasons:  1. They are blissfully ignorant of alternatives and don't know any better.  2.  Don't have the ability to be productive with the alternatives, or don't have time to learn them (some people need to just use computers without making them their lives)  3. Use laptops/PCs provided by a work environment and must use Windows/MySQL because of Tools, Programs, Applications and don't have the option to change.

Zealotry is not good in any form, whether it's pro or anti MySQL, PG, Windows or whatever.  Shouting about how another religion is bad doesn't make your point of view sound any less fanatical. 

I'll get off my soapbox now.  But I was eventually convinced that PG was good, and in turn I too have convinced a few MySQL  users to take a closer look at PG, that's how a community grows.  Not  with venom spitting and name calling.  I'm now a full card carrying member of PostgreSQL, but fortunately never happened across any PG zealots during my search.

Just my 2 cents.  Flame away

Tony.


Casey Allen Shobe wrote:
Martin Marques (Friday 26 December 2003 14:11) 
Windows native port might be out in the next release (name it 7.5 or 8.0),
with many other things there, and it should be out by fall of next year,
which is much earlier then 2 years. :-)   
Great.  But I really don't see how this makes the DBMS any better at all.  So 
what if there's a native Windows port?  Nobody that I've ever met or talked 
to uses MySQL on Windows anyways, and you can always use cygwin if you're 
really desperate.

PostgreSQL is primarily an open-source database for open-source systems.  If 
somebody wants to use MySQL just because they can run it on Windows, I say 
let them.

What I *do* see is a whole bunch of MySQL users running around yapping about 
how great and fantastic and fast MySQL is and how crappy PostgreSQL is.  I 
really don't understand them, and they're impossible to reason with.

You can ask "Does MySQL support nested select statements?  I use these every 
day", and they respond with "You can just use MySQL's proprietary SQL 
extensions to do the same thing another way; and MySQL is fast, too!".

I think about the same of these people as I do of people who rave about the 
superiority of Windows, their chosen religion, or the country they live in - 
underinformed bigots.

From all that I've read in terms of power, flexibility, and features, 
PostgreSQL is far ahead of MySQL.  And I've yet to see even the slightest 
speed issue with a properly designed database schema.  Maybe MySQL is faster 
with un-normalized tables, and that's why they like to say it's faster?  I 
don't know, but I really don't care if that's the case.

Vertu sæll,
 

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