1. Introduction

There is much debate about which open source database management systems (DBMS) is the best to use. For this paper, I will attempt to objectively compare the benefits of MySQL and PostgreSQL which are arguably two of the most widely adopted open source DBMS's. The scope of this paper is to compare the licensing, features, scalability, and reliability of the two DBMS's. While this paper is not intended to provide a complete analysis of all things MySQL and PostgreSQL, I will provide enough analysis of each DBMS to inform the reader of the particular advantages of using each system.

Each DBMS will be given and overall proportional amount of analysis in order to strike and objective balance but some sections may be lengthier than others if a particular topic is more well documented than another. In general, I have noticed that more data and conversations can be found concerning MySQL than there is for PostgreSQL but that is in no way a testament to its worth.

I've had some trouble initially setting up Oracle 10g Express on Ubuntu and ended up going through search engine results, blogs, and message boards. I've finally gotten it working so now I want to post all directions in one place.
Brief overview:

• Download and Install the .deb
• Run sudo /etc/init.d/oracle-xe configure
• Run /usr/lib/oracle/xe/app/oracle/product/10.2.0/server/bin/./oracle_env.sh
• If language errors, edit the /usr/lib/oracle/xe/app/oracle/product/10.2.0/server/bin/nls_lang.sh file
• Add . /usr/lib/oracle/xe/app/oracle/product/10.2.0/server/bin/oracle_env.sh to your .bashrc
• Start a new terminal session
• sudo chmod 6755 oracle in the $ORACLE_HOME/bin directory
• sqlplus system

Now for the details!
=============
GUI SETUP
=============
First, download the 10g Express version that you require. If you are in a western, English speaking country then I recommend Oracle Database 10g Express Edition (Western European).
http://www.oracle.com/technology/software/products/database/xe/htdocs/102xelinsoft.html
You'll need to sign up for a free account with Oracle to download the software. After getting the package, install it via your favorite method. Double clicking the file works well enough for this application. Once the package is installed you'll see the Oracle software in Applications -> Oracle Database 10g Express Edition.
Unfortunately, the installer doesn't automatically setup the initial components and this is when I ended up combing through search engine results. The setup is really quite simple. Just fire up a terminal session and type:

sudo /etc/init.d/oracle-xe configure

You'll then be prompted for what ports to run the web client and database on as well as whether or not you want the database to run at boot. Most importantly (at least to me) this is where you setup the SYS/SYSTEM password.
Here's what my output looks like:

Oracle Database 10g Express Edition Configuration
-------------------------------------------------
This will configure on-boot properties of Oracle Database 10g Express 
Edition.  The following questions will determine whether the database should 
be starting upon system boot, the ports it will use, and the passwords that 
will be used for database accounts.  Press  to accept the defaults. 
Ctrl-C will abort.


Specify the HTTP port that will be used for Oracle Application Express [8080]:


Specify a port that will be used for the database listener [1521]:


Specify a password to be used for database accounts.  Note that the same
password will be used for SYS and SYSTEM.  Oracle recommends the use of 
different passwords for each database account.  This can be done after 
initial configuration:
Confirm the password:


Do you want Oracle Database 10g Express Edition to be started on boot (y/n) [y]:y


Starting Oracle Net Listener...Done
Configuring Database...Done
Starting Oracle Database 10g Express Edition Instance...Done
Installation Completed Successfully.
To access the Database Home Page go to "http://127.0.0.1:8080/apex"

Sweet. Now I can connect to Oracle via the Web Client in Applications -> Oracle Database 10g Express Edition -> Go To Database Home Page or just bookmarking http://127.0.0.1:8080/apex
I already had apache installed and I don't know if it's required. If, for some reason, you can view the page, do a:

sudo apt-get install apache2

then (if apache isn't running)

sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 start

You can now login to the browser GUI and do what your need to do. Most of us want the next steps too.
===========
RUNNING VIA COMMAND LINE
===========
I have Oracle setup on one box and ssh into it so I need to run it command line to do it. SQLPLUS is used to access it but I ran into some problems. Here's how to fix it and get it running. First, trying to run sqlplus will generate errors:

sqlplus sys as sysdba
sqlplus: command not found

It's already on your system but you need to run the oracle_env.sh script:

/usr/lib/oracle/xe/app/oracle/product/10.2.0/server/bin/./oracle_env.sh
/usr/lib/oracle/xe/app/oracle/product/10.2.0/server/bin/nls_lang.sh: 114: [[: not found
/usr/lib/oracle/xe/app/oracle/product/10.2.0/server/bin/nls_lang.sh: 114: [[: not found

Bummer. I took out the if statements around line 114 (:set number in vi to view line numbers) and just left the line 'locale=$LANG' by doing:

sudo vi /usr/lib/oracle/xe/app/oracle/product/10.2.0/server/bin/nls_lang.sh

That fixed my language error and so I just reran

/usr/lib/oracle/xe/app/oracle/product/10.2.0/server/bin/./oracle_env.sh 

I also added . /usr/lib/oracle/xe/app/oracle/product/10.2.0/server/bin/oracle_env.sh to my .bashrc file.
Now when I try sqlplus sys as sysdba I get:
steven@MDW1003461:/usr/lib/oracle/xe/app/oracle/product/10.2.0/client/bin$ sqlplus sys as sysdba
SQL*Plus: Release 10.2.0.1.0 - Production on Tue Nov 3 11:58:58 2009
Copyright (c) 1982, 2005, Oracle. All rights reserved.
Enter password: ERROR: ORA-09925: Unable to create audit trail file

GRRRRRR.
Further digging let me know I had to set the setuid bit on the Oracle executable.
So, close your terminal session then start a new one to load your environment variables. CD to $ORACLE_HOME (mine is /usr/lib/oracle/xe/app/oracle/product/10.2.0/server) then go into the bin directory and do a

sudo chmod 6755 oracle

Let's try to connect again:

sqlplus system


SQL*Plus: Release 10.2.0.1.0 - Production on Tue Nov 3 12:13:12 2009


Copyright (c) 1982, 2005, Oracle.  All rights reserved.


Enter password: 


Connected to:
Oracle Database 10g Express Edition Release 10.2.0.1.0 - Production


SQL>

VOILA!
So, to recap:

• Download and Install the .deb
• Run sudo /etc/init.d/oracle-xe configure
• Run /usr/lib/oracle/xe/app/oracle/product/10.2.0/server/bin/./oracle_env.sh
• If language errors, edit the /usr/lib/oracle/xe/app/oracle/product/10.2.0/server/bin/nls_lang.sh file
• Add . /usr/lib/oracle/xe/app/oracle/product/10.2.0/server/bin/oracle_env.sh to your .bashrc
• Start a new terminal session
• sudo chmod 6755 oracle in the $ORACLE_HOME/bin directory
• sqlplus system

YOU'RE IN!

Good Day,

I'm a Computer Scientist in the 10th Congressional District of Georgia. A lobbying group will address Congress in the next few weeks to persuade our political leaders to pass legislation that would change the current preference of an opt-in policy for behavioral advertising to an opt-out version. This legislation would dangerously infringe on an individual's right to privacy.

The main issue with an opt-out behavioral advertising method is that it assumes the end user will have knowledge of the tracking software, and that they know how to opt-out of being followed. When will the user be notified that they are being tracked? Will the information be in some small print or in an absurdly long End User License Agreement (EULA)? What method does the end user take to opt-out? Is the opt-out guaranteed? And, most importantly, why is the burden place on the private citizen?

The practice of allowing companies to track private citizen's behavior without prior, explicit consent is reprehensible and irresponsible. What is the scope of the behavioral targeting i.e. where does the tracking begin and where does it end?

Behavioral advertising is industry-friendly language for spyware.

For individual companies perhaps the spyware will be limited to surfing habits within their own site e.g. a newspaper site user may view mostly sports statistics and rankings and the end user would be targeted with sports-based advertising. This, however, does not require behavioral advertising but rather can rely upon contextual advertising.

What is most likely is that the scope of the tracking will be across multiple sites and search engine queries. The user will be followed from site-to-site, trending their browsing habits: what they view and when, their navigation habits, what topics do they frequently search, etc. Upon capturing this citizen's data, companies will be able to deduce sex, age range, children they may have, pay scale, and many other private areas that the individual may not wish to disclose – a disclosure that is without knowledge or consent.

Behavioral advertising will be required to be put into practice and sold to other companies by very large corporations. The sheer amount of data collected per individual across an entire nation or even the world will require vast amounts of computing resources to process the behavioral targeting algorithms and store the resultant data sets. This would leave out any competition from smaller software businesses and instead requires the computing services of extremely large corporations like Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo!. These companies already form the largest search engine providers and internet advertising sellers. With the passing of opt-out based behavioral advertising spyware, these corporations (who already hold an exorbitant amount of power) will be able to effectively spy on private citizens in order to provide their corporate partners with a little bit of (perhaps) increased revenue.

Being a Computer Scientist requires me to think logically and pragmatically. As it currently stands, the benefits do not outweigh the cost. Private citizens' rights to privacy will be infringed upon in order to provide marketing that can be achieved with proper contextual advertising. The amount of data collected unwittingly from private citizens will be stored in vulnerable computer systems. The levels of security involved to protect this process is immense. No server architecture is invulnerable to corruption or attack and given that this spyware will likely be implemented using cookies on end-user machines -machines which are notoriously vulnerable- the tracking cookies will be very accessible to internet attackers and information harvesters.

I implore you, in the interest of American citizen's 1st, 4th, and 5th constitutional amendment rights to oppose legislation that acts in the interest of corporations by means of treading upon individual rights. Our privacy of beliefs, privacy of the person and possessions as against unreasonable searches, and privacy against self-incrimination are much more important than a slight increase in the probability of selling us a new television.

Thank you for your time and I trust you'll make the right decisions.

Sincerely,

Steven C Jackson

You can find your Senators, Congressman, and Legislators at: http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml

I absolutely love the idea of having a library of books with me wherever I go. I love the choice of reading whatever book wherever I want, whenever I want and not have to search out a bookstore to purchase a book. Amazon provides this service very well.

The problem with the Kindle is its restriction on user freedom. When I 'purchase' and ebook from Amazon, I do not own the book in the same way I own a physical book. I am not free to read it wherever I want (on any device I choose) nor can I give it away, share it with my friends, donate it or sell it. The user is entirely at the mercy of the distributor.

Recently, Amazon invaded users' Kindles and removed books that the publisher decider they no longer want published. It would be a public outrage if your house was invaded and your beloved books were torn from your shelf because the publisher decided your time was up for ownership so why do we allow this to happen in the digital realm?

I really look forward to owning an ereader but I'm not going to trade my freedoms for 'sexy'.

If you're surfing around in FireFox and don't have a terminal fired up, why waste the extra keystrokes or mouse movements just to install a package? If you already know the package name, you can install from your browser simply by using:

apt:<package-name>

For example I want to install the super excellent diagramming software dia, I simply type:

apt:dia

And a GUI pops up much like it does when you select a package and hit apply in Synaptic.