Open Source Weblog

As well as MySQL's own MyISAM, Cluster, Federated and Archive engines the list also includes Falcon, the new engine being developed by senior software architect Jim Starkey, who was hired in February with the acquisition of his web application technology company, Netfrastructure.

Then there is InnoDB - acquired by Oracle but still available thanks to a renegotiation of the deal - and solidDB from Solid Technology, as well as three other open source offerings: PrimeBase XT for MySQL, a port of the OpenOLAP tool, and the Thinking Networks Storage Engine for MySQL.

"With our pluggable architecture we offer a degree of modularity. We believe there's not one database engine that's good for all application uses," MySQL's VP of marketing, Zack Urlocker told me recently. "There isn't one engine for all purposes. You have to look at the usage models for that data."

Having overcome the challenge of Oracle acquiring its storage engine of choice, MySQL needed to get over its reliance on a single database engine. In order to avoid the pitfalls of going too far the other way and offering too much choice, the company will need to articulate clearly which engines are required for which purpose.