The authors of “Beginning PHP and PostgreSQL 8: From Novice to Professional” explain how, when and why PostgreSQL tops commercial database systems, as well as its suitability for enterprises and why end users have more control with this open source DMBS.
Why PostgreSQL Can Best SQLServer, Oracle
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Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
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The article mainly shows PostgreSQL can be a good choice (since there are people who use it successfully).
Obviously there’s probably situations where PostgreSQL is even the best choice, but the article doesn’t specify in which situation that is the case. And I guess that’s a good thing, since that’s probably impossible to specify correctly.
The “postgresql is not backed by any one company, so you can get postgresql support from many companies” is a bit weak though: you can get mysql support from many companies, too, right? I really doubt the postgresql consultancy market is a very big one.
In other words, some of the common pitfalls often found in articles like this are avoided, but we’re left with a piece that doesn’t tell us much new. Nicely written though.
another big misconception is the lack of nice GUI admin tools and this is just not true.
If you are a windows user, one of the best is PG Lightning admin, and they have a 5 dollar sale going on right now. check it out at http://www.amsoftwaredesign.com
Yes, I agree, PGSQL is great. DBVisualizer from http://www.minq.se/ is a great DB frontend and works with PostgreSQL too.
Edited 2006-03-21 19:23
I have used Interbase, MySQL and Firebird, mainly. PostgreSQL is my priority, as it’s a lot more used than Firebird and the drivers should be better, because they are tested with more frequency.
Not only that, but with a compatibility layer it becomes 1:1 compatible with oracle 🙂
For their playstation 3 network service, they are going to use Enterprise DB, there was an article about it on the german Heise server.
I cam across this little piece.
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1940194,00.asp
Looks like PostgreSQL may really be moving into the big league, and is the kind of thing Oracle really fears. I mean, if Sony Online Entertainment can run PostgreSQL, then who is too big to run PostgreSQL.
But when I wanted to have some transaction features, I moved to PostgreSQL. For developers, version 8.1 provides very good API’s.
With a default install a ODBC. .NET and JDBC driver is provided. Also got installed was a ver good client in the form of pgAdmin III. Connecting from C# Express was very easy, and I got all the features of Oracle that I normally use.
Apart from the excellent transaction support, the normal features like stored procedure, are very easy to implement. The GUI Client pgAdmin III provides an excellent interface for defining all the tables, functions, trigger, operator, procedures etc.
It also gives the corresponding SQL used in defining all the above created tables and functions.
Even a SQL novice will find it easy to define and use all these.
Then we have a query editor, where we can easily execute the normal queries, best part is the error descriptor. If there is any error in the query, the description is so detailed that I always find the error in the query.
Again, maybe from enterprise point of view we look for some specific properties in the SQL Server, but from developer point of view, I find it almost as usable as Oracle 10g.
Postgres is clearly a superior offering from a technical and feature point of view. It is reliable, has good features, fast, and has cross platform support.
The problem with widespread adoption however is competition from companies that offer other integrated products and have a very persuasive sales team. This being MySQL and Oracle. On the one hand MySQL is very aggressive about pushing their product on the low end. On the other hand Oracle ties their product into many, many solutions on the high end, and offers enterprise level support and customization.
I think PostGres is getting squeezed by the competitors in this regard.