

MySQL: Why “My”? - pai1009
http://www.vertabelo.com/blog/mysql-history

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tim333
Pedantic quibble but re: "MySQL is the world's most popular and widely used
open-source relational database", I'm not sure it is. Popular in terms of most
installs would be sqlite that I think is in all android phones and firefox
browsers and most popular in terms of people liking the thing would seem to be
Postgres.

~~~
laumars
Definitely pedantic, but it is still an interesting point. sqlite often gets
forgotten about when we talk about relational databases, but it's at the heart
of a lot more software than I think most people realise. I think the first
time I really came to notice it was about 4 years ago in XBMC.

~~~
Someone1234
To further your point, to name a few examples of SQLite users:

Adobe (Lightroom's file format), Skype (history/config), Airbus (flight
systems), Firefox (data store), Google ("everything"), and more:

[https://www.sqlite.org/famous.html](https://www.sqlite.org/famous.html)

SQLite is everywhere. It is like the Linux of relational databases. If you
aren't sure what your Smart TV runs, just assume it is Linux with SQLite as it
is a safe bet.

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ejr
If anyone is curious, mSQL - short for "Mini SQL" \- still has a home at
[http://www.hughes.com.au/products/msql](http://www.hughes.com.au/products/msql)

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nsxwolf
I always just assumed it was my as in mine, all mine, my very own SQL
database. Back when your other choices were proprietary and expensive, it gave
me a warm feeling inside.

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n0body
everytime i use mysql i die a little inside. that said, the amount of work to
switch over to postgres isn't worth it.

not that there's a lot of work, more a lack of team experience that makes it
currently not a smart move.

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t1m
Apparently, in Swedish, the name 'My' would be pronounced like the English
word 'me'.

~~~
andrelaszlo
Pretty close, but the vowel sound is slightly different. The word 'me' would
be prounounced /mi:/ by an American [1] but the name My is prounounced /my/ in
Swedish. It's the close front rounded vowel [2], the same vowel sound that is
usually represented with ü in German. Apparently, this sound is produced by
people speaking with a Scottish accent, when they way "few".

Compare close front rounded and unrounded vowel sounds:

Rounded:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Close_front_rounded_vowel....](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Close_front_rounded_vowel.ogg)

Unrounded:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Close_front_unrounded_vowe...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Close_front_unrounded_vowel.ogg)

[1]:
[http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/me#Pronunciation](http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/me#Pronunciation)

[2]:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Close_front_rounded_vowel](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Close_front_rounded_vowel)

~~~
ownagefool
mooSql?

~~~
carlob
More like mewSQL

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127001brewer
Other than being seemingly more _closed sourced_ , is there a reason to choose
MariaDB over MySQL?

~~~
blueskin_
* More active development

* Slightly better performance IIRC

* Not controlled by Oracle, who will likely kill off MySQL to promote their own database at some point in the not-too-distant future.

~~~
falcolas
> * Not controlled by Oracle, who will likely kill off MySQL to promote their
> own database at some point in the not-too-distant future.

To be fair, if they were going to do this, they wouldn't have invested the
thousands of hours required to release 5.6, 5.7, Fabric, the mysql toolkit,
etc. I've talked to the developers in person who work on MySQL, and they talk
quite a bit about the future of MySQL.

They have also acquired a number of MySQL based companies, and are committed
to supporting them on MySQL.

~~~
blueskin_
It's also possible (although I considered less likely until around now) Oracle
will simply cut off support, new versions, and patches in the future unless
you pay, and recent work on it has only been to reassure the existing customer
base into not switching to MariaDB/Percona/Postgres.

~~~
falcolas
Given how simple it is to drop in MariaDB/Percona Server without changes, this
wouldn't be a terribly sound strategy.

A better strategy is the one they currently use - selling support tools (like
Enterprise Support, Enterprise Monitor, and Enterprise Backup) to support the
development. It never ceases to amaze me how much people will pay for these
tools and services to support a OSS product.

------
lukeholder
Does anyone know of resources (books, tutorials, gotchas, blog posts) for
switching an application (with no orm) from MySQL to Postgres?

~~~
darkstar999
What's there to say? Just start chugging away. Do some research when you hit a
wall.

