In the past, Database Oasis has used a Microsoft^® SQL database to store its data.  This is an extremely robust database that performs very well in terms of stability, speed, and capacity. There are, however, a number of tradeoffs: one of which is the file size, the second is the complexity of installing and maintaining the server.

Over the past several months, we’ve received reports from several users who were having trouble installing or accessing the SQL database. Environmental conflicts, such as local firewalls, were preventing many users from being able to work with the database. (Refer to our FAQ page for details on the issues.) We’ve also had reports of difficulties downloading the software due to file size.

Because of these issues, we have been searching for an alternative to the SQL database. We needed to find something that is easy to install, easy to maintain, and has a small file size, but still offers the same power, stability, and speed of the SQL database.

We are very happy to announce that with version 2.8 of Database Oasis we have changed our database backend to the VistaDB database. This database is highly recommended by developers who have worked with it over the past several years. In addition to not sacrificing anything in terms of speed or stability, it actually increases the data storage capacity in Database Oasis from 4GB to 4TB, and reduces the download size from over 50MB to 14MB.

Database Oasis is focused on simplicity and ease of use. We feel that this change suits or focus and will offer great benefits to our customers.