printMySQL Face-Off: MySQL or MariaDB? - CIO.com
by user92
You may have heard about the upstart MySQL database MariaDB, a branch of MySQL created in the wake of Oracle's purchase of Sun Microsystems. You'll find many great reasons to consider MariaDB, not least that MariaDB is led by the original author of MySQL, Monty Widenius. But there are reasons to stick with MySQL too.