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When I hear about such "MySQL replacement" databases built from grounds up by companies that are just a few months old, I always wonder how complete their support for MySQL feature set is. Do they support every SQL feature/quirk/misfeature of MySQL?

It seems to me that unless it is a complete one-to-one mapping, it is going to be a nightmare to explain what is supported and what is not.

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For total MySQL compatibility, you could only modify the MySQL storage engine via their plugin system.

As the market has shown, this isn't a compelling improvement. For us, every part of MemSQL has been optimized for memory - this gives us a 30x boost, rather than the 4-5x you might see just switching out the storage engine.

The decision to support the MySQL protocol on the wire was made to reduce friction for the application. However, that doesn't mean we will support every quirk or 'misfeature' for MySQL just to say we're "MySQL compatible."

Our value proposition is easy performance at scale. In working with customers, it's been pretty straightforward to explain the MemSQL surface area.

It seems to me they should be able to support an intelligent sub-set of functionality. And if there are any glaring holes, they will hear from users. This doesn't strike me as a big issue.

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