I think what you need to do is ask: What is the right database for me to use?

Perl has drivers that allow it to connect with MySQL, MSQL, ODBC and many others. You are using DBI and DBD to connect, after that, the type of DB you are using is irrelavent from perl's standpoint.

From here, concentrate on the database for your needs.

Do you need a transactional DB?
Do you need a relational DB?
Do you need speed over functions?
Is price an issue?
What do most of your clients use?
What is the size of the company or job?
Will you DB be heavily used to monetary transactions?
What OS does the DB support?

I have been using MySQL with perl for almost a year. I have also used perl to access ODBC databases and perl does the job well. I think you may be asking the wrong question.

I use MySQL for the following reasons:

-It is free for me and cheap for my clients.
-It is easy to install and easy to manage.
-It works on many platforms, but works very well on linux.
-It is very fast.

Oracle is great for large companies and has functions for pretty well anything you could want. However, you will pay for this with dollars and speed. It is transactional and fits in very well for e-commerce situations where losing a transaction or corrupting a transaction can prove costly.

MySQL works well for non-transaction based applications and in small to mid sized companies. It is fast and designed to be so. It has few functions compared to ORacle. MySQl is cheap... I could go on, but you need to determine what you need and then create a proposal table to see which DB scores the best

Simon