What are the major differences between databases?

Question

I\'m not fanatic on any database but I wish to see differences between vendors.

For instance, I use mostly Oracle and I see that others (MySQL, SQL Server, PostgreSQL, .

Answer 1

Here are some features about Sybase SQL Anywhere that (AFAIK) don't exist in other database products:

• table-level encryption
• column compression (available as an option with Oracle Enterprise edition, built-in to all versions of SA)
• stored procedures can be written in SQL, java, perl, php, C/C++, C#, or VB.NET

Full disclosure: I work for Sybase -- I am a developer on the SQL Anywhere server team. This is not meant as advertising or rep-whoring. If requested, I'll mark this answer as community wiki.