When a Fortune 1000 company goes shopping for database software, it typically will turn to one of the big vendors. Holding the bulk of market share are programs like Oracle's (Nasdaq: ORCL - news) 9i, IBM's (NYSE: IBM - news) DB2 or Microsoft's (Nasdaq: MSFT - news) SQL Server.
But the database market is changing rapidly. Interest in open-source database software is growing -- so much so that 2003 could be dubbed the "Year of the Open-Source Database."
"We're starting to get into a period where bigger companies are calling us and asking, not 'Should I use an open-source (database]?' but 'Which one should I use?'" says Meta Group analyst Charlie Garry.
"I don't think it'll be very long before a major player gets behind an open-source database," he told NewsFactor.
Still, the question is which one? As the industry trend toward open-source databases reaches a tipping point, which product will become the market leader?
Postgres vs. MySQL
There are a number of well-regarded open source databases, but two that clearly are positioned to be leaders are MySQL and Postgres (formally known as "PostgreSQL"). Each program has its strong points, Garry noted.
"Postgres has been around longer, is more mature, and has more feature functionality," he said. Postgres, for example, has a feature called "sub selects" that enables it to issue a query type that some of its open-source brethren cannot..................
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