A review of Open Source Databases

1. Open Source Database Options Michelle Murrain Nonprofit Open Source Initiative MetaCentric Technology Advising December 16, 2008

5. PostgreSQL

7. phpPGAdmin

9. Can interface with server database back-ends

10. Provide for easy reporting

12. Filemaker Pro (Macintosh and Windows)

15. Oracle

17. Very active development, supported by major companies like IBM and Sun

18. Cross-platform (Windows, Mac OS, and Linux)

19. Uses open standards: Open Document Format (ODF)

20. Database component the least mature

21. Now at version 3.0

23. Other DBMS via ODBC or JDBC or other methods

24. Windows: can import Access2007

26. It is clearly meant to imitate Access in features and layout

27. Like Access, it has wizards that allow you to create new tables, forms, etc.

29. Can be a bit clunky, but provides a large advantage

31. You can view and create relationships between tables

33. You can assign macros to specific events

34. DEMO

36. OOo Base integrates well with OpenOffice.org

37. OOo is behind Access if you are a sophisticated database builder

38. OOo is really an Access clone – hard to compare with FileMaker Pro

40. Linux only

41. Also designed to be an Access alternative

42. In active development with a large development team

43. Popular in Europe

46. Anchor member of the “LAMP” stack

47. Owned by Sun Microsystems (bought for $1B)

48. Cross-platform (runs on Linux, Windows, Mac, and other platforms)

49. Mature, under active development

51. More robust

52. More “enterprise-strength”

53. Had important features like transactions and stored procedures before MySQL

54. Also under active development

56. Apache Derby: Java

57. HSQLDB: Java

58. SQLite (very popular light database engine)

60. Create databases, tables, query with SQL, pretty much everything you can do natively with the database

61. Can run on the same server as the database

62. phpMyAdmin Demo

65. Server database options are ubiquitous, as popular as proprietary options, and mature. There are good open source administration tools

66. Desktop database options are not as mature as proprietary versions, but moving forward quickly (ironically at the same time as people are moving away from desktop databases.)

67. No proprietary options on Linux – OpenOffice.org Base or Kexi are your best bets.