Hi,

I have been using firebird for a year now (hence I still consider
myself a beginner with it) having come from using MySQL and SQL Server
(both of which I still use). I started using firebird due to it's free
license and the fact that it offered so much more than MySQL for so
much less money that SQL Server. It seemed to strike a nice balance
and a year on I am very happy with it. At the start it was hard not
having things I was used to (e.g. Temp Tables) but invariably with
most of my problems I found the firebird way of doing things. I do
however feel there are two major things missing:

1) Security
There really needs to be a way to provide security on the database
file level rather than the server level. It is to easy for someone to
take the database and just look at it. For now, I have used firebird
in a hosted environment where only I have access to the DB, everyone
else is required to go throught the application to reach the data in
the database. However, I don't think I could use it anywhere else
untill there was a stronger security model.

I have considered running it for web hosting but (and do correct me if
I'm wrong) I can't see a way of securly setting up the server so each
host account would have access to it's own database alone.

It is also worrying to think that copying a database from one machine
to another will allow anyone to login if SYSDBA has access to the db.
Even then, you can open the db file and figure out an account to
recreate that has SYSDBA privs.


2) Publicity / Marketing / Support
I truly honestly believe that MySQL has reached the size and fame that
it has not because it is open source but the marketing and support
behind it. If you want to use MySQL commercially then you have to buy
a license (unless you GPL your app), this provides them funding to
then grow. Likewise, larger coprations will take on MySQL as they can
buy extra support and peace of mind. Does firebird offer such things?
I know that a large company who turns over hunderd of thousands would
rather pay a small sum for MySQL than risk firebird or postresql for
that matter.


These are just my (naive) thoughts and was hoping for some feedback
and possibly some clarifications on matters of which I mostly like am
wrong about.

Thanks,

Giulio