Thread: Five most popular database applications

Question asked by Visitor Angela

What are the five most popular database applications used by business?

Oracle
Postgresql
DB2
SQL Server
MySql

Oracle
SQL Server
MySql
Postgresql
DB2

in that order.

I thing the most popular database is MySQL, but there is no doubt that STSdb is the fastest database in the world. Check Database Benckmark - an Open Source Database Benchmarking application.

Microsoft SQL Server 2008R2 received the most license purchases for 2011 - though other competitors are Oracle Database, DB2, Teradata, Informatica. MySQL is the most popular open source (free) database platform, though it is specifically geared for website back-ends. However Microsoft SQL Server Express is also free, and includes advanced services such as SQL Analysis Services, SQL Reporting Services.

From a business intelligence standpoint, Microsoft SQL Server BI Suite leads in the ability to execute, while SAP edges Microsoft in market saturation.

As a side note, while Microsoft Access may not be as powerful as SQL Server, it is in fact the most installed database platform by far, though the contention that it is actually a full database platform is arguable, it can hold millions of rows, capping out (.accdb file) at 2 gigabytes.

Do not use Oracle Database, it is ridiculously overpriced, and none of what you buy comes bundled, so you if you want to tune your database, the tuning pack costs $5,000 per processor. And even for an average IT person, Oracle will take you four times as long to install, because it's poorly packaged. Want BI, another $10, reporting, another $10K. And Oracle SQL Developer has a rollback button built in, which proves in of itself that the people using it screw up, a lot.

The only reason people learn PL/SQL i.e. Oracle is if you run Linux servers and your IT head refuses to run any box with Microsoft, in which case your IT head is an idiot. 70% of the business servers sold were Microsoft for Q2 2011, the others were Linux, mostly Red Hat Enterprise and SUES Linux Enterprise.