Rails on PostgreSQL

I recently came across a video presentation from the San Diego Ruby User's Group from Oct 2008. This video features Guyren Howe extolling the virtues of using Rails with PostgreSQL vs MySQL. He hits on a bunch of different topics, including:

• PostgreSQL has a bunch of features MySQL doesn't have - advanced rules/stored procedures/rules, a genetic query optimizer, excellent Oracle compatibility.
• PostgreSQL tends to outperform MySQL. He cites a variety of benchmarks including some that were run on 12-way boxes at Sun.
• PostgreSQL has a clear and liberal license, MySQL's license has all sorts of GPL mixed in it. If he were to give this presentation now I daresay he'd add the fact that Oracle now owns MySQL AB (via Sun) to the mix. Lively times there.

The presentation is a little out of date - he's comparing PostgreSQL 8.2 with MySQL 5 - but the main points of the presentation are right on target. Also, it would have been nice if there had been more Rails-specific content, but as he said, Rails tends to abstract away the database, so there's not much room for maneuvering there.

If you just want to see the slides, they're here. Enjoy!