Hi guys i really like the way theis discussion is on. well i have a question in database= is firebird more easier to understand, apply and install than Oracle? thanks and take care

Hi, I've been using firebird for a little more that two years now.
Talking about installation, nothing could be easier than firebird. Just download the zip form

extract it anywhere on your system

enter the bin directory in the folder.

run install_super.bat or install_classic.bat

and you have a running firebird server on your system. Plus it take only around 8MB of hard disk space.

Talking about ease of use, firebird is the most SQL compliant database so far. It tries to stick to the SQL standards more than any other database. This means that if you know SQl you know firebird.

If you don't like using the commandline interface, you can download either flamerobin or IBEasy. They are good gui tools for administering firebird database.

Another advantage is that you can legally use it even in your commercial products without violating any licence.

I can go on and on. I always say that firebird is the best thing I ever came across in the database world.

Nice, so firebird is this easy

thanks guys i luk 4ward to developing my self.

MySQL is the future. It's beginning to get all the features you could want, without compromising performance.

I'm with sbucareer on this one. Products such as Firebird, MySQL etc. are great for learning and developing small to medium sized solutions however there are sound reasons why the large blue chip companies almost always opt for Oracle.

When you look at the range of features offered and myriad configuration options, I wouldn't expect Oracle to be easy to install and/or configure and frankly I don't think that ease of installation should be a major consideration in view of the fact that installation is not done every day.

I have worked extensively with most database ,especially sqlserver 2000 ,oracle ,mysql . I can tell u point blank that during one of my projects with sqlserver 2000, it got to a stage dat some things could not be implemented in sqlserver2000 ,then microsoft said all would be possible with 2005 version. OK. Oracle database is still the best. though its not as user friendly as mssql

Though sqlserver 2005 is very tight and bundled with data mining : which has been in oracle since, ,etc

Open source is truly the best for development and not for production: Easy php with mysql

the one i found easiest for development is easyphp with mysql ,its easier than sqlserver2000

i agree with sbcareer

Nice one @ sbucareer.

A friend mentioned that DB2 could be a good balance between open source and propietary software Data Base Management Systems. As u rightly said, @ the end of the Day the Total Cost Ownership for Open Source software tend to be higher than that of propietary. One reason for this is the difficuty in finding adequate customer support for Open Source products.

Nonetheless, I still happen to be inclined 2wards Open Source.I guess it might be 4 subjective reasons but then I love it and i believe Nigeria might be needing it if @ at all she aims to be Software Independent.I say this knowing fully well that i might probably end up working in a firm where proprietary wares are the Norms.

Back to[b] DB2, DB2[/b] happens to come in two flavours.The free licence version that according to my frnd incorporates more features than it's contemporaries (Firebird/Interbase, MySQL etc).Many @ times most the apps needed for SMES(who r meant to be the building blocks of in developing nations) might not need beyond this features (Transaction Managment etc).

The second flavour, i understand comes as a full enterprise ready version which requires a license. I also understand upgrading isnt a nightmare and it just might be cheaper than ORACLE, MSSQL Server .Perhaps it could be a contender to Oracle for a poor country like ours.

MySQL, with all due respect, i am a fan of PHP/MySQL, but everybody get their limit, so my brother @ Seun, i see no future (Enterprise wise ) for My SQL.We will continue using it for SMF,CMS et al but when it comes to critical apps. as sbucareer suggested i see companies banking on those who have made their names and are known for their support: Oracle et al.

when it comes to critical apps. as sbucareer suggested i see companies banking on those who have made their names and are known for their support: Oracle et al

My company is going to be a very thrifty company. We will definitely use MySQL.

I disagree with the fact that open source software are always not good enough.
@Sbucareer , I think P/E is not a guage of wether a software is good or bad.

Talking about firebird, I prefer using a product before criticizing it.

The people that use firebird are mostly people that discovered it's power. They chose firebird
because it can do the work very well. They are not victims of promotional campaigns by some
huge corporations.

The following are some organizations that use firebird database

1. US Navy use it in a Broad range of management logistics systems

2. Communicare systems: vendors of medical records software

3. British Rail, for time-tabling, booking, accounting e.t.c.

4. Prague Municipal Library in Czech republic.

5.Deutsche Presse-Agentur, Germany's largest press agency

6. Distributel: Teleco Service provider in canada. They have real time call information recorded in firebird databases.
All line IDs, service status,customer status are stored in firebird database and that is queried each time a call is made.
The database is also concurrently queried by automatic voice response systems.
And the average call failure is 1 in 99999 calls ( that may not be due to the firebird database)

And all these for free. By the way if you want support there are many companies that offer firebird support.

If you have millions of dollars and want a package such that no matter what happens, if your server crashes, you will be able to get your data - go for oracle.

Haven't used firebird - can't comment

I am a mysql and postgresql fan - they work like magic - I am a member of both forums and mailing list and get all the support I need and don't pay a cent for it.

@IG

3. British Rail, for time-tabling, booking, accounting e.t.c.

Finally, that explain why they are always unreliable!

It is the most unreliable Rail in western europe.

Serious firms run on Oracle.

babasin:

@IG
Finally, that explain why they are always unreliable!

It is the most unreliable Rail in western europe.

Serious firms run on Oracle.

Can you just explain how their use of firebird made them unreliable ?
And is the US navy and the other organizations mentioned also unreliable because they use firebird ?

I know the big boys run Oracle,

Our company was co-locating a few servers for one of the biggest banks in Ghana - all their servers run Oracle. I found out that it's not because of security or anything but realiability - oracle is realiable. It does come at an expensive price though

I will try firebird - I am always open to new ideas. Quick question, does php and jsp support firebird?

For now and in the near future - mysql and postgresql rocks for me

php support is available with the firebird/interbase php extension
There is also a jdbc driver which you can download from the firebird site http://firebirdsql.org

I think the big boys run oracle for many reasons.
Oracle is the market leader in database, this i think is because they are the first people to implement a relational database management system despite the fact that IBM did the research and published the white paper.

But there are other DBMS's out there that are very good.
I cannot do any comparisons with oracle because I've never used oracle.

But I'll tell you that firebird/interbase is a real matured DBMS and has been used in production environments since 1981

From the on-set it has features like stored procedures, triggers,events e.t.c plus it is the leader when it comes to handling concurrent data access. This means there is an extremely low possibilty of corrupting your data.

Based on my little research, I came to understand that there are some features of firebird/interbase (Like Multi Generational Architechture) that only became available on Oracle and MSSQL after interbase is open sourced to become firebird.

Apart from that firebird has a very friendly license. Unlike mysql one is not forbidden from using it in commercial applications. In fact there are companies that derive their database products from firebird e.g Yaffil and fyracle.

In my opinion, many individuals and organizations go for oracle because of the hype around it. I've came across many people that think "oracle" is the term for all relational databases.

@IG

In my opinion, many individuals and organizations go for oracle because of the hype around it. I've came across many people that think "oracle" is the term for all relational databases.

This is false. Firms with mission critical systems go for:

1. Oracle on Solaris

2. Sybase on Solaris

3. MS SQL on Windows

It has nothing to do with hype; but how critical your system is to your survival as a firm.

Note above, Linux, mysq are not even mentioned though they rapidly gaining market share for mid-tier level usage

"mission critical systems"
This word has really became a buzz word.
Look at it closely. Every company's data is critical to their mission as a business.

I do not want to start an argument, but I'll advise us to use all the packages we are trying to compare so that we talk on experience.

What I said about Oracle is my opinion. I said it before, I've never used oracle.

Talking about MSSQL, I've used it before and have now vowed never to use it again.

Firebird is far ahead of MSSQL in many areas and is available for Windows,Linux, Mac,Solaris and FreeBSD.

But one thing everybody knows is that their is a lot of hype around oracle. That doesn't mean Oracle is not good but the hype exists.

IG,

Thanks for your input. I am not aware that mysql license doesn't allow you run it for commercial purposes. I do know that mysql has an enterprise edition that you pay for and a free opensource version that anyone can download and use.

Postgresql is free and it's license allows you to use it in commercial circles. I will try firdbird soon.

For all those beating up Opensource software, the largest and fastest web database deployment is currently google's which on the backend runs MySQL  http://www.mysql.com/customers.  Also Yahoo's finance and email are embedded MySQL applications.

Apache another opensource application is the most dependable and deployed Web server on the internet.

PHP is the fastest growing web development language and boasts the most active online support sites.

The lesson is this, if you stand to lose thousands of Dollars per minute in development time go with the Commercial applications, but if you have 2 to 20 months to develop an application, you can develop robust systems with OpenSource packages.  A trip to http://sourceforge.net  will reveal a host of Enterprise, Award winning software from the OpenSource communities.

Gone are the days when OpenSource was synonymous with "unstable, buggy, and undependable" software.   Dependable enough that the European union(EU) has an ongoing programme of migrating to a 100% OpenSource architecture http://ec.europa.eu/idabc/en/document/2623 .

My hope is that someday African nations will support their software development industry so that applications can be localized to serve the populace which OpenSource is geared to do

Note: changed the link to the EU page as it had changed

Thanx Otuyelu, you've said it all.

Many people tend to always defend the technology they use and refuse to open up to new ideas.

I believe that with time companies like oracle and microsoft will start giving their database engines for free.
This is because of the challenge they will be facing from open source database systems.
Their revenue may then be through selling tools that you use along with the engines.

Microsoft employed that technique and is working for them. They give out their dotNET SDK for free and derive their revenue
from selling Visual Studio.NET.