SQL Server Vs. MySQL - need to make a decision

[matt_12511]

Which one is a better fit for me? for the company I work for?

Ok, I work for a non-profit company with 8 employee's. We are growing quickly and sell our material all over the country. We are expanding our online abilities to include online training and web conferencing. I am in charge of designing the new website. I will create my own shopping cart, as well as a database for online success stories.

Our host offers two packages Windows 2003, and a Unix plan. Unix uses MySQL and Windows 2003 uses MS SQL Server.

Which is easier to use?
Which is better to learn for my resume (selfish ) ?
What direction is the web moving in? PHP/MySQL or ASP.NET/SQL Server?
If I use SQL Server do I need to buy an expensive client SQL Server from Microsoft so that I can use SQL Server or is it a cheap/free download?

What are your opinions?

Thanks all,

Matt

[r937]

"Which is easier to use?"

depends on how many other databases you already know

if none, SQL Server


"Which is better to learn for my resume (selfish ) ?"

the obvious answer is: SQL Server

it is closer to the sql standard, and so your skills will be more easily transferred


"What direction is the web moving in? PHP/MySQL or ASP.NET/SQL Server?":

coldfusion/postgresql


"If I use SQL Server do I need to buy an expensive client SQL Server from Microsoft so that I can use SQL Server or is it a cheap/free download?"

MSDE is free, and it does all you need (for development and testing)

[matt_12511]

Thank you for your informative response. I had never heard of PostgreSQL before.

I am interested in hearing other peoples comments as well.

Matt

[ActivI]

Hi, as far as I know you can destribute MSDE with applications althogh it has some restrictions like 2gb DB etc.

[sadcox66]

Which is easier to use?

MySql using phpMyAdmin . PostGreSQL works similar.

Which is better to learn for my resume (selfish ) ?

Depends on your other qualifications.
MS-SQL for non web related jobs.
MySql/PostgreSQL for internet or freelance job or management

What direction is the web moving in? PHP/MySQL or ASP.NET/SQL Server?

Apache+PHP+MySql - see netcraft.com

If I use SQL Server do I need to buy an expensive client SQL Server from Microsoft so that I can use SQL Server or is it a cheap/free download?

Free for development. Limited connections to server.
Full licence for production live environment.

[M. Johansson]

[as to what direction the web is moving in]
Apache+PHP+MySql - see netcraft.com

You are looking strictly at quantity when looking at those figures. As jeffyjones pointed out in a another thread, those figures accounts for hundreds of thousands of parked domains that are hardly sites, let alone "applications." Remember that IIS is running 43% of the top 1,000 trafficked sites on the Internet. Apache is 39%. That tells a more important story to me as far as identifying the most popular application platform.

[asp-hosting.ca]

Which is easier to use?
Which is better to learn for my resume (selfish ) ?
What direction is the web moving in? PHP/MySQL or ASP.NET/SQL Server?
If I use SQL Server do I need to buy an expensive client SQL Server from Microsoft so that I can use SQL Server or is it a cheap/free download?

MS SQL Server is user-friendlier and it's real enterprise level database; MySQL doesn't come even close to it if you compare them by features.

For your resume is better to learn MS SQL (you can get paid twice as much with MS SQL versus MySQL), all big businesses use MS SQL or Oracle, not MySQL.

ASP.NET is object oriented environment and you can write re-usable code there. ASP.NET applications are compiled, while the PHP are interpret on the fly, so ASP.NET is more scalable and faster.

In short, choose MS platform

[coo_t2]

MS SQL Server is user-friendlier and it's real enterprise level database; MySQL doesn't come even close to it if you compare them by features.

How does PostgreSQL compare to MS SQL?
It seems most DB guru types think PostgreSQL is much superior to MySql, so how does it stack up to MS SQL?

--ed

[asp-hosting.ca]

How does PostgreSQL compare to MS SQL?
It seems most DB guru types think PostgreSQL is much superior to MySql, so how does it stack up to MS SQL?

--ed

MS SQL Server is much better choice

[r937]

MS SQL Server is much better choice

strike two...

[kcomer]

Why is MS SQL better than PostgreSQL? I thought they had the same feature set. MS SQL might have better clustering support, but if you don't need that then why pay for it. I also think PostgreSQL might be more open, in the fact that you can write stored procedures in numerous languages rather than just T SQL, it's open source and from my expirience open source apps generally have numerous add ons or modifications that people have given away.

[matt_12511]

Well my host only has three options. I can use a windows 2003 server with MS SQL Server 2000, a UNIX server with MySQL, or Windows 2003 server with MS Access.
I think I need a more powerful database to run the company online catalog. I think Access would work but when you consider all the security, reliability, etc... a high end database is probably worth the extra cash.

So far the answer seems to be that MS SQL Server has more options and is easier to use (for beginners) than MySQL, but it will cost more. The host charges about $25 a month more for the Windows Server vs the UNIX server.

Since Hostway will be hosting the database and I can download a free client to work with the database (right?), the added cost of $25/mo seems fair for the advantages. Am I right?

Matt

[asp-hosting.ca]

Since Hostway will be hosting the database and I can download a free client to work with the database (right?), the added cost of $25/mo seems fair for the advantages. Am I right?

Matt

You can download a free MS SQL web adiministration tool here:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en

[Young Twig]

I thought ASP.NET and MSSQL were becoming most popular. I was looking at job opportunities on careerbuilder.com the other day (for an 8th grade career research report) and about 75-80% of the jobs required experience in ASP.NET/MSSQL. About 10% required PHP/MySQL. I don't see any that required ColdFusion/PostgreSQL.

On the other hand, I don't know anything.

[r937]

I don't see any that required ColdFusion/PostgreSQL.

that's because it's a secret

[JodoHost]

I'm sorry, but I do not know how in anyway you can compare MySQL with SQL Server. MySQL can't match SQL Server in either performance or features.

PostgreSQL does come close to SQL Server but it still lacks in many areas. There are still features that PostgreSQL does not support and SQL Server can handle load better especially in cluster and multi-processor environemnts.

There is a reason why Microsoft SQL Server is expensive

And these days, you can find plenty of inexpensive hosts that support SQL Server. The reason is that Microsoft has a total different licensing scheme for service providers where you could license a copy of MS SQL standard 1 procesor for little under $200/month

[asp-hosting.ca]

I'm sorry, but I do not know how in anyway you can compare MySQL with SQL Server. MySQL can't match SQL Server in either performance or features.

PostgreSQL does come close to SQL Server but it still lacks in many areas. There are still features that PostgreSQL does not support and SQL Server can handle load better especially in cluster and multi-processor environemnts.

There is a reason why Microsoft SQL Server is expensive

And these days, you can find plenty of inexpensive hosts that support SQL Server. The reason is that Microsoft has a total different licensing scheme for service providers where you could license a copy of MS SQL standard 1 procesor for little under $200/month

Wise words

[soonerdm]

Why does no one suggest Oracle?

[r937]

Why does no one suggest Oracle?

because none of us can stand larry ellison

http://www.zpub.com/un/un-le.html

[Digitalman]

Combined with the power of PHP, MySQL is the best choice.

[Dark Tranquility]

Combined with the power of PHP, MySQL is the best choice.

did u read what was written above ? I think it is clear that SQL Server is better than MySQL, it is even better than PostGreSQL !

[ghurtado]

I don't think thats clear at all. It is incredibly simplistic to say that " SQL Server is better than MySQL ", just like that. In these types of comparisons, absolute statements such as that one are often made due to lack of knowledge about either technology. There are many situations for many corporations (And not just small companies) where MySQL might just be "better" than SQL Server, specially if Linux or PHP are in the mix.

Be careful with absolute statements!

[ckaspar]

I think that in a effort to appease everybody the more accurate answer to what is better would be whatever you feel more comfortable with.

They all have their own intricacies. If you feel comfortable with MS go with SQL Server and ASP.net If you feel better with Open Source go with MySQL and PHP.

For me the decision is based on what I have and what I am looking to do in the long run.

If I do not have a lot of time then I go with ASP.net as I am more familiar with MS structures and logic. If I have some time to "play" them I go with OS. It is all up to you.

I have spent so much time reading through forums trying to make the same determination as which is better and have come to the conclusion stated above.

IMHO, a lot of people think that THEIR way is best and won't veer from what they know.

I have made it a mission to learn all that I can about everything out there. I am willing to give everything a chance. I suggest you do the same.

[Dark Tranquility]

Be careful with absolute statements!

...well I have to say that I agree with this statement ain't it an absolute one ??

[ghurtado]

yup