DataTrak Business Solutions, Inc. proudly uses Open Source FirebirdSQL Database
Management System |
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Why Use an Open Source Database?
We are regularly posed the question above. The simple answer is that
FirebirdSQL is an exceptional product. FirebirdSQL had over 20 years of commercial
development behind it before it was open sourced and taken over by the Firebird
Foundation, a dedicated network of programmers and users around the globe committed
to continued development and refinement of the FirebirdSQL product. Because
FirebirdSQL is open source software, its free to use and that means that DataTrakPOS
customers enjoy the reliability of an SQL database without paying high license fees
as with other SQL database vendors. It's free to use. |
What's in a Database?
Not all database are created equal and the difference between a good SQL database
such as FirebirdSQL and other, less robust databases such as Access, Foxpro and
Paradox is like night and day.
Warning: Technical Jargon Ahead
If you're not interested in the more technical aspects of a SQL database, you can
safely skip this section. Aside from being more reliable and robust, SQL database
systems offer much better performance than their little cousins (desktop databases)
because of their client/server nature where the work is shared between a server
computer and the POS workstation. As an example, with desktop databases (Access,
Paradox, Dbase, etc), the database file is opened over the network. That's
a no-no from a reliability standpoint. Network failure while your database
is open over the network can easily cause your database to be corrupted.
As another example, let's say that your database had 200,000 records in the Sales
table. The POS software needs to only display one of them for you, yet with
desktop databases, the software must pull the entire 200,000 records over the network
to the local station and filter them there, everytime that request is made.
This in effect, "floods" the network with uncessary traffic and reduces overall
throughput
on the network.
Using the same scenario with a SQL database, the process is drastically different.
Instead of pulling all 200,000 records over the network to filter them locally,
the client computer asks for specific records, one in our example. The client
makes the request, the SQL database software searches for the record requested and
sends only the one, requested record over the network to the client computer that
requested it.
The significance of this difference is data retrieval is a stark contrast between
the two types of databases and shows why a genuine SQL database server is the best
choice, hands down. |
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