[Discuss] Rob Conery's critique of MySQL?

[richb at pioneer.ci.net (Rich Braun)]

Greg Rundelett wrote:
> A default installation of MySQL is dangerously too
> flexible to be trusted with enterprise data.

At #185 on the Fortune 500 list, I'm thinking that my current employer's
systems probably contain what can be called "enterprise data".  And it's true
that I'm not going to run this data center with a default installation of
MySQL; it's already amply tweaked-out based on past experiences at a company
roughly 1/500th the size (but with a much-busier and more complex database).

I'd love to go back and propose PostgreSQL as an alternative--it's not too
late, the place up until July 2012 is an Oracle shop--but there are other
criteria like our ability to hire expertise, whether the backup and failover
strategies are robust, etc.  I have a unique opportunity to influence a key
decision in a "green-field" situation at a very large company and I'd love to
have more arguments than just "the defaults can't be trusted" or "sloppy
programmers could cause more trouble with this tool" than some other.

-rich