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Just doing some research on all the different *affordable* SQL-aware distributable databases around for Windows. I consider near or under $500 affordable for commercial use, and they have to license per *developer* and has to be something I can distribute with applications royalty free.. So far I have :

MS Access [Probably the database in the biggest love/hate relationship with developers]
Firebird (firebird.sourceforge.net)
CodeBase (codebase.com)
SQLite (www.sqlite.org)
TurboDB (www.turbodb.com)

Please share any and all information about your favorite database!

Never used by myself, but MySql is opensource and should be freeware:

http://www.mysql.com/

The licenses for it's embedded version pretty well prohibits anyone from doing anything useful with it commercially..

Thanks though!

MSAccess : I've been programming for years in this RDBMS. I must say that Jet4.x is not only quite fast but also very reliable. (BUT, be sure the MDB's are being backuped...)

The ODBC (OLEDB) drivers are stable.
The networking capabilities are moderate (10 concurrent users is the limit)
The size can grow easily to 1GB without any problem.

So for me I think MsAccess is the way to go. (and it's easy upsizable to MsSql)

On the other hand, MySql is a good alternative...

Cheetah?

Karbon wrote:The licenses for it's embedded version pretty well prohibits anyone from doing anything useful with it commercially..
Thanks though!

Since everything I do is MySQL now, the thought of the commercial license worried me too but I have been finding that the people I target already have working MySQL servers setup so I don't have to worry any more.

Even better for me is that the LibMySQL.dll file you can get off their home site allows me to talk to the customer's MySQL setup thanks to Max2's direct connect code (no ODBC!!!) and the DLL itself is free for any sort of use (Not being written by the people at MySQL.com) so I can both not worry about commercial 3'rd party licenses and not have to include a 3 meg (or over) embedded server.

Keeping the size down and the cost down agrees with most customers.

Does this idea help at all or is it largely unworkable for what you have in mind?

Regards, Fang.

I would be surprised if any of my existing customers even knew what MySQL was, much less had it installed.. I wish I had a more computer saavy target for my software(s) but that just isn't the way it is!

If you are writing shareware business desktop software and requiring the users to install MySQL you are probably losing a LOT of business. People, especially small business people, want it to "just work". If you aren't writing shareware and can offer on-site installation or are selling an enterprise level product then you can probably get away with requiring an RDBMS to already be in place.

Karbon wrote:I would be surprised if any of my existing customers even knew what MySQL was, much less had it installed.. I wish I had a more computer saavy target for my software(s) but that just isn't the way it is!

If you are writing shareware business desktop software and requiring the users to install MySQL you are probably losing a LOT of business. People, especially small business people, want it to "just work". If you aren't writing shareware and can offer on-site installation or are selling an enterprise level product then you can probably get away with requiring an RDBMS to already be in place.

If you use Firebird, there is also an embedded version, which you can ship with your software, which means the customer doesn't need to do anything to prepare for your software.

Colin

Hey Colin! I've been looking at Firebird and am thinking seriously about using it. The ADO.NET component being in beta scares me, as does having to manage all the server configuration files and such.. However, it does look promising!

Karbon wrote:Hey Colin! I've been looking at Firebird and am thinking seriously about using it. The ADO.NET component being in beta scares me, as does having to manage all the server configuration files and such.. However, it does look promising!

Firebird is a bit daunting to start with and I do not profess to be an expert, but it's rocksolid and based on tried and tested technology (Borlands Interbase). I wouldn't be too concerned about the ADO.NET drivers being in beta, from what I understand they are pretty straightforward to program (if you know what you are doing). There's a great book available, which should get you up to speed - The Firebird Book: A Reference for Database Developers by Helen Borrie - I got mine from Amazon. Once an app is deployed, you need no management, it's not like MSSql or Oracle. It also has some very advanced features.

Colin

I'll go pick up a copy of the book for sure..

Oh, and ignore those ICQs :-0

How complex of a database application do you need?

Do you just need table storage, or are you looking for stored procedures, triggers, etc?

Another very interesting choice is VistaDB - www.vistadb.net

Exceptionally cheap!

i thought mysql was free? damn, i think i was wrong...

Yeah, the may definitions of "free"