Pavel Cisar Wrote:

Firebird and MySQL going after different spots? Don't get fooled. We
compete, big time. This "message" should just easy some troubled minds,
and if it really means anything, then that we don't want to see the
other side destroyed and wiped out from the market (well, mostly). Call
it "friendly competition" or whatever, but we definitely race for the
market share. For MySQL it means more money, for FB project it
translates into more resources for development and of course money for
businesses built on top of FB.

I think to the degree that there's any truth to the "we don't really compete" line, it's that MySQL is more targeted at the "web
application back end" market, while Firebird is more targeted (and appropriate for) more traditional client/server apps, where
FB's excellent stored procedures and triggers, transaction support, ease of deployment, and simple administration are more
valuable than MySQL's raw speed (on non-transactional tables) and text searching functionality.

Fortunately, there is plenty of un-penetrated market for BOTH products, that is currently occupied by products with far inferior
"bang for the buck" ratios.