I have worked quite a few databases but most frequently land up using MySQL.
I have been working a lot on Sql Server 2005 recently at work.
Some things I love about MySQL are as follows.
High Speed of Operation
If you are talking about high speed database access and operation, there’s no better choice. MySQL became popular mainly due to this. Oracle and SQL server may be enterprise ready and more robust when compared to the database from the land of Dolphins.But I just love the speed of MySQL.
Command line interface
Simple yet powerful command line gives access entire feature set. In times of Server crashes or high traffic, using the command line via SSH is such a great possibility
Cool tools
phpMyAdmin and this database go along so well. MySQL query browser and Administrator are decent tools. Sqlyog is also good enough. There’s a commercial product called Navicat which is quite fabulous.
Keeps Sql really simple
In the land of MySQL, you need not be a SQL guru or know the ANSI SQL 92 standard . You just need to have something people call ” Common Sense ” . Its fairly easy to translate real world requirements into mysql queries. If you have worked in SQL server , I am sure you would know how much of crap sql you need to know for simple operations. MySQL might not be the Enterprise Database but it certainly follows the KISS (Keep it Simple and Stupid) approach.
Really fast to setup
I remember using this the backend for my final year project. Its just so easy to get this one running.Be it the official installer,zip or 3rd party tools like Xampp
Nice variety of storage engines
MyISAM, InnoDB ,Heap ,Merge are some of the storage engines you can use for your database.
Cross Platform
Windows, Linux, Mac, Solaris or even on VMware.
Light Hardware Requirements
MySQL is known to eat some amount of RAM, but its works fairly well even on the most simple configurations like a AMD 1.6GHz 256MB RAM Machine. Short learning curve Pretty easy to learn
Huge User Base
This is one of the best points about MySQL. Since its free , so many people use it and so you can easily find free help.