Databases - WAS Re: acronym LAMP

[Derek Broughton]

Karl F. Larsen wrote:

> The MySQL database is used a lot on Web Pages you buy things from. It
> is the Data Base (DB) of choice for that purpose. You can get MySQL from
> the Ubuntu repositories.
> 
> Oracle is a big SQL DB which is very expensive and used by Banks and
> big business.

Fairly accurate - except that I question Oracle as being used by "Banks" 
which have a horrible tendency to be monolithic IBM shops (thus, DB2 if they 
want a relational database, otherwise IMS).  

But you missed commenting on Postgres, which is, indeed, a viable 
replacement for Oracle for many users.  It probably can't handle the load 
that a big Oracle database can, but it can do pretty well everything Oracle 
can - making it easier to switch databases between the two than between 
either and MySQL.  All accounts suggest that as a web back-end, nothing 
beats MySQL.
-- 
derek