There is a saddening shortage of proper MySQL administration/query browser tools on linux-based systems. MySQL Workbench is a free tool that consolidates what used to be MySQL Query Browser and the MySQL Administrator and introduces a data modelling editor that promises round-trip design and generation of DBs.

It’s great news that Workbench is being implemented and made available to the public for free, yet I can’t avoid comparing it to some of the existing solutions for other platforms.

While it’s easy to justify why Query Browser of old sucked — it was an old application that was being marginally maintained in the last several years — it’s hard to do so for a new piece of software like Workbench. Its query browser sucks, not just because of its implementation (slow, occasionally crashing, often providing inconsistent/misleading data), but also because it betrays bad design at every corner; design of the sort that disregards usability and tries to shoehorn user interaction to a flawed model chosen because it suited some developer during implementation.

The Workbench developers seem open to suggestions, and in this light I can only provide a concise piece of advice for their query browser development effort: find a Mac, download Sequel Pro, use it and then copy the damn thing: It works, it’s many times faster, more usable, covers more use-cases and is much more painless, plus it’s free and open source. Sadly, it’s not available on linux, for if it did, I wouldn’t touch Workbench with a three point oh-five metre pole.

This is probably one of the worst conclusions to a saga that lasted for several years and was followed closely by so many people; yes, it’s true that Sun has been slowly, but steadily, disappearing from the radar as a major player in this industry, but it has also continued to innovate all the while it tried to determine its relationship to Open Source, and by extension how it was going to survive in this Great Open World.

Similarly, Oracle has been a company that — similarly to Sun — thrived on proprietary, dominant solutions while Open Source competition gradually eroded its dominance; look at how many of the world’s most popular sites are powered by MySQL and you’ll see why for some — and increasingly many — needs an Oracle licence is now completely pointless. Yet contrary to Sun Microsystems, Oracle has maintained a profitable business as large enterprises maintained their custom.
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