I have been putting a lot of creative argument to the project manager on which is a better database for our company's next project. He was a pro-supporter of Micro$oft and he puts a lot of support for M$ SQL. Being a Linux supporter and such, I prefer something that's not Micro$oft. We listed out all the advantages & disadvantages of M$ SQL & MySQL.

MySQL
Pros:

• Stable
• Doesn't update regularly
• Loads of community support
• Lots of 3rd party tools to enhance the database
• Free

Cons:

• Need a few additional tools to simplify the process
• Hard to access without proper software

Micro$oft SQL
Pros:

• Micro$oft-based (what can you expect?)
• Easy integration to many database design
• Ease of usage

Cons:

• Security Issue
• Service Pack that goes like 650 MB (the whole program itself)
• Regular updates

The thing is that our company have the M$ SQL license but the after-maintainence is the one worrying me. We already have a lot of complaints due to Micro$oft security issue and I don't need their old product in our server. Another thing is that Micro$oft promised they will deliver the latest SQL (Yukon) ASAP. I highly doubt that.

On the other hand, MySQL has been running silently on one of the old server (P3 450, 512 MB, 10 GB HDD) with Win2k Server and guess what, I never updated the software since the day I installed it. I admit that the client side might have a little issue installing their control-centre & ODBC driver but that's the price to pay for security. I still stand firm on my decision. The small guy (server) never faced a problem except when the HDD space runs low. There was never a problem or frills that could cause me grief for the day.

I wondered if anyone could remember the day of CodeRed Worm attack where it will attached itself to IIS (Internet Information Service) and then proceeded to attack SQL servers? MySQL seem to be immune to the attack. M$ SQL was affected badly till we have to remove the whole records because the main hard drive has to be formatted (as accordingly since the IT monkeys cannot resolve the issue, so they pointed a gun to our head and enforced us to format & reload the OS for the server).

And now we're back on issue on our new branded server.

At the end the director handed down the commandments to put Windows 2000 Server on the server with M$ SQL. May God have mercy on the server's soul...