Users tempted by free commercial databases

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March 2, 2006 (Computerworld) -- Missouri State University’s information systems department and Web start-up Savvica Inc. don’t have a lot in common apart from tight budgets. In recent years, that would have likely meant choosing a free open-source database such as MySQL or PostGres.

But last month, both eschewed open-source, opting instead for different commercial databases -- albeit the free, stripped-down versions.

“Everything’s so much more solid now,” said John Green, president of technology at Toronto-based Savvica. Burgeoning Web traffic was causing Savvica’s MySQL server to continually crash, and the company’s e-learning applications were written in Java, which Green felt was not well supported by MySQL.

Instead of adding more MySQL servers, Green chose to roll out three of IBM’s new DB2 Express-C databases managed by a load-balancing application from another Toronto firm, Xkoto Inc. “DB2 Express-C just feels like a much more profound piece of software,” he said.

Using the open-standard JDBC interface, Savvica ported its data to DB2 Express-C from MySQL in less than a day, said Green.

Defections such as Savvica’s hearten big commercial database vendors, including Microsoft Corp., Oracle Corp., IBM and even Sybase Inc., which have all released free “express” databases in the past six months.

Despite more robust features, these hugely profitable databases have in recent years lost mind share -- and, increasingly, customers -- to their open-source counterparts. MySQL AB’s success has epitomized the corporate revolt against the license and support fees charged for commercial databases.

But the free express databases are “significantly challenging the conventional wisdom about commercial vs. open-source databases,” said Peter O’Kelly, an analyst at Midvale, Utah-based Burton Group.

The commercial database vendors are opening a second front by adding support for application frameworks popular with open-source users. On Tuesday, Zend Technologies Ltd. released software that enables developers to write applications interacting with the Oracle database in the PHP scripting language.

“IBM and Oracle are doing something similar to what MySQL has done: win the hearts and minds of developers by giving them easier access to technologies,” said Mike Pinette, Zend’s vice president of business development.

It’s early, and the success of the big commercial database vendors at wooing back software developers -- who wield increasing influence over corporate buying decisions -- is not yet clear.

In the area of database instructional book sales, considered a good indicator of developer interest, sales of SQL Server how-to books have surpassed MySQL books this year, according to Roger Magoulis, director of research at leading publisher, O'Reilly Media Inc. He believes that interest is due more to the general release of SQL Server 2005 last fall, rather than just its free edition -- especially as sales of Oracle or DB2 how-to books have inot ncreased significantly since the release of their free versions.

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