MySQL AB launched its first-ever users' conference with a bang when it released source code for Version 5 of its open-source database at the San Jose, Calif., event on Thursday.
The Uppsala, Sweden, company considers this major release to be its first serious push into the enterprise market, given the database's new features, which include stored procedures, triggers, core SQL-99 features, foreign keys for MyISAM with cascading Delete, cursor support, multimaster replication and online backup, full sub-queries (Match, For all/Any/Some), OLAP functions for data warehousing, and a more scalable thread/connection manager.

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MySQL 4.1 was also met with enterprise user enthusiasm when the company certified the code earlier this month, thanks to enhanced transaction capabilities and features that made it easier to port from Oracle databases.

Indeed, Matt Wagner, director of software development, said that the intent behind the new features in MySQL 5—particularly stored procedures and triggers—is portability. The features make it a smooth slide from Oracle Corp. databases or Microsoft Corp. SQL Server databases onto MySQL, easing the path for companies looking to save money by turning to open source, he said.


According to Wagner, there are plenty of businesses looking to port onto the open-source database due to budget shrinkage. At the recent Linux World show, in New York in January, a majority of people who inquired into MySQL were doing so due to budget cuts, he said. "Ninety percent of the people coming up to me [when I manned the MySQL booth] were telling us how their budgets were being downsized and that they're trying to find a way to fill their needs," said Wagner, in San Jose. "A lot were moving from Oracle onto MySQL."

from http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,3959,1020266,00.asp