You've finally buckled down and decided that it's time to purchase a
database solution for your home or business. What type of database do you need? It's actually a simple matter of deciding what features you need and choosing a product that meets your requirements and doesn't cause too much pain in your pocketbook.
Desktop Databases
You're probably familiar with at least one desktop database product. The market is dominated by brand-names like
Microsoft Access and
FileMaker Pro. These products are relatively inexpensive and are great for single-user or non-interactive web applications.
Server Databases
If you're planning a heavy-duty database application like an e-commerce site or a multiuser database, you're going to need to call on one of the big guns.
Server databases like
MySQL,
Microsoft SQL Server and
Oracle provide real firepower but carry a correspondingly heavy pricetag.
Web-enabled Databases
Nowadays, almost every database application calls for some kind of web interaction. Many people assume that if you're looking to publish your database on the Internet, you need to use a server database. That's not necessarily true -- a desktop database could (inexpensively!) meet your needs.
Be sure to explore the remainder of this site for detailed information on each of the major database platforms.
