OSNews

http://www.firebirdnews.org/docs/fb2min.html

basically it's a fully featured sql server that can be embedded. Various commercial software packages use variants of firebird or it's commercial cousin from Borland. Veritas is the big one that I know of.

Read the link...that's basically why you should use it over mysql...but then again mysql isn't a competitor when it comes to true sql database engines.

The US defense force also use Interbase (parent of Firebird).

MySQL - missing lots of more advanced features, but is faster.
PostgreSQL - feature parity, but not embeddable.

I'm not too familiar with Firebird, but it sounds like a pretty nice DB. It's based on the old Borland Interbase.

Sorry...I was wrong...Veritas uses Sybase...not firebird.

It is a real pity that Firebird doesn't get the attention it deserves compared to other open-source RDMS. It's like an undiscovered gem! For me Firebird beats the pants off MySQL and PostgreSQL. It has more features, is rock solid and stable, is really fast, has an extremely small install footprint, is easy to manage and easy to deploy. I use it for all my commercial and open-source work.

It's always like that. The mediocre products get all the hype, and you have to hunt to find the gems.

Actually the same is true even for music bands for example.