Open Source Database Management Systems

Abstract

This article discusses open source database management systems (OSDBMS) trends from two broad perspectives. First, the software engineering discipline platform on which databases are built has recently witnessed a new form of software development—Free/Open Source Software Development (F/OSSD). Methodically, the F/OSSD paradigm has changed the way relational databases, initiated in the 1960s and 1970s, are developed, distributed, supported, and maintained. Second, commercial relational database management systems (RDBMS) still dominate the database market because, on one hand, vendors and users are skeptical of the boon of applications developed and distributed under the F/OSSD paradigm, and on the other hand, it has been argued that OSDBMS are not likely to follow the successful trend of other robust Free/Open Source Software (F/OSS) systems (Linux, Apache, etc.). This article presents trends in OSDBMS by looking at the morphology and landscape of the type of applications developed by the F/OSS community. Implementation of F/OSS strategies and factors mitigating the adoption and utilization of OSDBMS are explored by looking at the interactions between the F/OSSD process and database firms, vendors, and users.