MySQL 5.0 comes up short in the administration and development department, too. It has no debugger, so finding mistakes in long code requires trial and error. The admin utility freezes up a lot and has trouble refreshing. It provides simple performance stats, but it doesn't install any performance counters. The development utility has no editing features and also suffers from quirky performance; it provides few useful error messages, so the engine doesn't offer much error-finding help.

Of course, MySQL is a nice alternative to other vendors' high license fees, and as a quick way to get a Web site or other simple app up and running, MySQL 5.0 is the perfect solution. Being free, however, doesn't give MySQL an automatic pass on value. If you need a quick, free database, both Microsoft and Oracle have one, but the size is capped at 4GB; for larger databases, SQL Server Workgroup edition comes in at under $1,000. All of these databases are stable, offer more features, and have a clear upgrade path.

MySQL 5.0 may not be on the same competitive enterprise playing field as the established big four databases yet, but MySQL admins would be foolish not to implement version 5.0. The increased security, and with the inclusion of stored procedures, triggers, and views, make this a necessary, and welcome, upgrade.