Firebird differs from other open source databases in several ways. By design, it is small and portable, running on Linux, Windows, Solaris, HP/UX, AIX, Darwin, BSD, and others. Its license is based on the Mozilla license, making it compatible with proprietary applications. The same licensing terms apply across all platforms.
Firebird is easy to install and manage. It is built from the sources of InterBase(r), which Borland Software released two years ago. Borland distributed InterBase widely with its development tools, so a "low hassle" database was important to them.
Most important, Firebird is an active database. For many applications, most of the processing takes place within the database, improving performance by reducing the network traffic between client and server.
Ann Harrison is a mentor to the open source developers on the Firebird project. Firebird is based on the InterBase(r) code released by Borland Software two years ago. Ann's history with InterBase goes back nearly 20 years and in that time she's worked on architecture, code, training, customer support, documentation, and about everything else, including baking birthday cakes.
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