Yeah, that really stood out. Seven out of 8 or 9 used MySQL.
It's not so suprising. You don't really need the overhead PostgreSQL brings in for most web applications. You probably don't need the overhead of SQL Server, either.
Anybody remember the site that scans a web site and returns its technology profile (e.g. javascript libraries used, server, language, etc.)?
builtwith.com
I'm not impressed. It thought a site running Hunchentoot behind mod-lisp was PHP-based.
This sort of stuff is irrelevant. These sites are not successful because of the backend.
It's just curiosity.
I could be wrong, but I don't think anyone's implying that these sites' success is due to their backends. However, backend choices do affect uptime, scalability, ease of development, ease of finding/fixing bugs, etc. So I would certainly take issue with your claim that "this sort of stuff is irrelevant".
I'm just surprised LISP isn't on there.
Really?
I'd be really interested in their exact definition of 'large'.