MySQL doesn't have to know that a db is UTF8 for you to store UTF8 in it. You're not necessarily using its collation functions or anything.
My understanding is replication and setting up MySQL is still easier than Postgres; it definitely was 10 years ago, that's why it's part of LAMP. The data loss issues were fixed forever ago when it switched to InnoDB.
Google AdWords and Facebook both use(d) MySQL a lot and I assume they knew about Oracle and Postgres at the time they were built…
> Google AdWords and Facebook both use(d) MySQL a lot and I assume they knew about Oracle and Postgres at the time they were built…
Why would you assume that? Both of the companies were tiny and full of children when these decisions were made. And Oracle was expensive and a non-starter for explosive horizontal scale.
My understanding is replication and setting up MySQL is still easier than Postgres; it definitely was 10 years ago, that's why it's part of LAMP. The data loss issues were fixed forever ago when it switched to InnoDB.
Google AdWords and Facebook both use(d) MySQL a lot and I assume they knew about Oracle and Postgres at the time they were built…