We had a database under PostgreSQL. We're having a re-implementation of our
Registration System here in the University of the philippines, and are also considering
alternatives for PostgreSQL. Most of us develop J2EE Web modules under Windows. I
myself want to create our database under Windows. I found info about Firebird being
not-so demanding in terms of hardware and software specs, unlike PostgreSQL w/c
requires us to have Cygwin installed in our PC's. Some of us don't have internet access,
so we decided to go for Firebird. JBoss already had sample XML files for Firebird
Database Connectivity, and we find it very good to speed up our development process.
Plus, Firebird had those tools you've mentioned, and most of them are free/open source.

But our servers run under Linux, for our school implemented an all-Linux-PC's rule. Well,
linux really is good, and I've learned stuffs about it, and am using it in school. But most of
us have already trained themselves on using Windows as platform for development. And
so we found Firebird, having a native Windows version.

Our only problem is how to pump the data from PostgreSQL to Firebird, so we could
have copies of it (for testing) in Windows. I don't have problems testing under Linux,
but my colleagues seem to need something that would bridge Windows and linux
software development.

I hope that was a good reason.