McMaster University Creates Open Source eHealth Records System

[Dave Cramer]

On Tue, Oct 13, 2009 at 6:02 PM, Jamon Camisso <jamon.camisso-H217xnMUJC0sA/PxXw9srA at public.gmane.org>wrote:

> D. Hugh Redelmeier wrote:
>
>> | From: Dave Cramer <davec-zxk95TxsVYDyHADnj0MGvQC/G2K4zDHf at public.gmane.org>
>>
>> | > The python is being phased out as it was used only to manage Health
>> | > Canada's drug database dump.  This was also being stored in postgreSQL
>> which
>> | > I believe a co-worker was changing to use MySQL.
>> | >
>> | >
>> |  Hmmm.... the notion that my health records are stored in MySQL is
>> reason
>> | for me to find another doctor. Too bad your co-worker didn't move the
>> MySQL
>> | to PostgreSQL
>>
>> Just to make this clear:  PostgreSQL is considered much better
>> technology than MySQL.
>>
>
> Depends who you ask. Well if you can do insert into foo (varchar(8) column)
> values ( "charlargerthan8") and it accepts it I consider this a major flaw.
> What did it just store ?
>
>
>  I'm not a DB person so I don't know enough to explain this well.  On
>> the other hand, several people who do know enough have independently
>> told me this.
>>
>
> See above.
>
>  For business-critical work like OSCAR, using MySQL is probably a
>> serious mistake.
>>
>
> If it's good enough for Yahoo! and Wikipedia, it's probably good enough for
> the rest of us. Sure there may be bad implementations of it around (no
> comment on oscar, haven't looked), but I'm sure if postgresql had the same
> installation base, some people would scream bloody murder about it too.


Well if I lose data on Wikipedia, it's not the end of the world, nor is
Yahoo. My health records are a different story. Just for kicks what is Yahoo
using it for since I know they are using a derivation of postgresql for
other things.

>
>
>  Here's a comparison from the PostgreSQL wiki (hence it might be
>> biased):
>>  http://wiki.postgresql.org/wiki/Why_PostgreSQL_Instead_of_MySQL_2009
>> If you find it wrong, you can fix it.
>>
>
> I'm biased towards postgresql as well (just because I like it is all), but
> honestly, mysql powers some really large sites just like postgresql, and if
> setup properly it is easily secured and maintainable.
>

I'm not debating it's security or maintainability, I'm debating it's
robustness. I've had customers pull the fibre channel out of a postgresql
database server and not lose any data. Are you suggesting that this is
remotely possible with MySQL ?

>
> My $0.02, ymmv.
>
> Jamon
>
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