(Daniel Lyons) For the past two years, as its simple database program has grown more and more popular, MySQL AB has been careful to insist that its software did not pose a threat to database giants like IBM, Microsoft and Oracle.

Enterprise Open Source Magazine: We understand you’re going to be releasing MySQL 5.0 in a few weeks. What are its highlights?

(Robin Schumacher) The reasons for the huge popularity and increasing adoption of MySQL as a serious database platform can many times be boiled down to two, but surprisingly contrasting, considerations: –How much MySQL is like other database platforms. –How much MySQL is different than other

(Juan Pablo Claude) Last month I spent an intense five days learning the ins and outs of the PostgreSQL database management system at the Big Nerd Ranch, a teaching and consulting company based in Atlanta which specializes in Mac OS X and Unix. The “Big Nerd Ranch Way” removes you from your norm

(Gregg Keizer) A vulnerability in the Snort open-source intrusion detection software puts companies at serious risk, the researcher who discovered the bug said.

(Martin LaMonica) In an effort to attract new corporate customers, MySQL is planning to ship a major upgrade of its namesake open-source database within the next seven to 10 days.

(Ilia Alshanetsky) SQL injection is yet another common vulnerability that is the result of lax input validation. Unlike cross-site scripting vulnerabilities that are ultimately directed at your site’s visitors, SQL injection is an attack on the site itself—in particular its database. (pdf)

(Uday Parmar) This handy comparison matrix and glossary let you compare and contrast the supported features of several popular open source databases: Cloudscape 5.1, Daffodil DB 4.0, MySQL 5.0, PostgreSQL 8.0, and PointBase 4.5.

(Korry Douglas and Susan Douglas) Data types are built into a standard PostgreSQL distribution, but you can also define your own custom data types. (pdf)

(Sean Michael Kerner) Open source continues to make inroads into enterprise storage, and its latest route is clustered file systems.