Database Reference
In-Depth Information
PostgreSQL functions versus stored procedures. Frankly, nobody really cares about
those things until after they have already made a choice and are trying to justify it.
This chapter contains the guide that I wish someone had written for me when I chose
PostgreSQL back in 1998.
Cost of acquisition
One of biggest factors in deciding what technology is used in the application stack
is the cost of acquisition. I've seen many application architectures drawn on a white-
board where the technical team was embarrassed to show me, but they justified the
design by trying to keep software licensing costs down. When it comes to the data-
base environment, the usual suspects are Oracle, SQL Server, MySQL, and Post-
greSQL. Oracle, the dominant player in the database space, is also the most costly.
At the low end, Oracle does have reasonably priced offering and even a free express
edition, but they are limited. Most people have needs beyond the low priced offerings
and fall into the enterprise sales machine of Oracle. This usually results in a high
price quote that makes your CFO fall out of his chair and you're back to designing
your solution to keep your licensing costs down.
Then comes Microsoft SQL Server. This is your first reasonably viable option. The
pricing is listed on the Microsoft website. I will not reproduce it here because the
pricing schedule is too volatile for a book that will remain in print for more than 5
minutes. Nonetheless, an experienced thumb value of the purchase cost for SQL
Server will get you running with a web capable model for about $5,000. This does
not include a service contract. In the grand scheme of development costs, this is
reasonable, and not too high of a barrier to enter.
Then we have the open source offerings, which are MySQL and PostgreSQL. They
cost nothing, and the service contracts cost—wait for it—nothing. That is a very hard
cost of acquisition to beat.
Remember in the beginning of the chapter, when I was talking about all of the things
that you don't know when the project starts? Here's where the real win comes in. You
can afford to fail.
There, I said it!
