We're Deprecating Multi-User Local Data (MySQL)

The software will continue to function with MySQL installations, but only temporarily. At some point, the software will fully stop supporting MySQL installations. Deprecation is the first step toward eventual complete abandonment of functionality support.

Why are we deprecating MySQL? We’re making this change for multiple reasons. For one, the rationale for hosting and maintaining a local database server has dropped significantly since we began offering our Cloud Data option. The vast majority of our users are part of small landscape architecture offices, which are not equipped with the resources to manage such a technical hardware/software solution.

Lost Data

It’s worth sharing that for nearly 20 years we’ve dealt with clients experiencing server issues that caused them to lose all data. The nature of a MySQL database means the software cannot be in charge of making complete backups of the database, nor of securing that backup offsite. This challenging technical consideration requires an IT professional. It breaks our hearts to hear from a client who has lost so much valuable data, when many assume that the data is somehow backed up on its own.

Moving targets

It’s also worth taking a stroll down memory lane. Land F/X 1.0 shipped with a FoxPro database, which worked great for both Single- and Multi-User installs. Yet barely a year later, the industry switched to 64-bit, and Microsoft chose not to upgrade FoxPro. As a result, we had to choose a different database engine. We settled on supporting both MySQL and SQLServer. We then dropped support for FoxPro in 2008. We also started engineering the Cloud Data option as a simpler and more capable alternative, although it was not released until 2014. Shortly thereafter, we even added support for SQLite for a Single-User Local Data option.

SQLServer was the next entity that proved far too challenging for us to support in any fashion. The combination of its far greater technical challenges with its small handful of users meant that we could not support it. Still, we worked with those few users to get them switched over to either MySQL or Cloud Data, discontinuing support for SQL Server in 2018.

Over time, the complexity and overhead of MySQL has really bedeviled us and our users. It too has suffered from having a corporate owner that has not been forthright in maintaining ease and simplicity of use. Just trying to find the correct installer has become wildly difficult after Oracle's purchase of MySQL, a thinly veiled attempt to push MySQL users to switch to an Oracle database.

Getting with the times

And then with the Covid pandemic, across the board our users needed a solution for work-from-home employees. Luckily, Cloud Data was there and ready for them, and most MySQL users have switched to Cloud Data over the past few years. With it now down to a small fraction of users still using MySQL, it’s time for the final nudge to get them to use a data storage engine that we can fully support and vouch for.

Where do we go from here?

What does the deprecation of MySQL mean for offices that have dedicated IT, and love having their MySQL database? For now, it doesn't mean anything. Any IT professional knows that product deprecation is just like a yellow traffic light: You can still proceed, but it's just a little risky.

When will we completely discontinue MySQL support? It's hard to say. We’ll monitor the numbers of remaining MySQL users and start reaching out to convince them to switch to Cloud Data. This process will likely take a year or more.

Perhaps most importantly, our already limited testing of MySQL will now quickly transition to zero, meaning that as we engineer new features and fix bugs, we won’t need to test against a MySQL installation. Any MySQL users will inevitably start to see more errors, which will take more time for us to address. Just this past year has seen a good handful of errors specific to MySQL because our primary testing and development environment is Cloud Data.

What about SQLite?

We have no plans to discontinue support of our SQLite option, which allows for Single-User Local Data installations. In fact, we hope to eventually offer an ability for Cloud Data to automatically switch to SQLite Local Data during Internet outages. However, we’d like to remind users that any Local Data options will require the user to be in charge of backups, with a huge risk of data loss if the entire machine is compromised or lost.

Cloud is the present and future

And lastly, there is one more development of note: the availability of Starlink Internet, and soon Amazon's Leo, offering satellite-based Internet. The lack of valid Internet options is really only an issue in a small number of countries. Right now 95% or more of those reading this article can order Starlink, have it delivered tomorrow, and have fast Internet for a reasonable price.

Every single piece of content Land F/X offers, from the plant database to the symbols to the help library, is accessed exclusively via the internet. It’s impossible to install the software without an Internet connection, and it’s impossible to use a new installation without Internet access. The argument that Local Data somehow precludes reliance on Internet access is just simply not true. Instead, quite the opposite is true: All content is online, all Cloud Data is instantly backed up across five worldwide servers, and it's only the Local Data users who rely massively on that one computer never failing.

We have a lot of fun developments coming that we're excited about, and we know you will enjoy them. All those updates will be delivered via the Internet. So no matter how you slice it, Cloud Data is the way. Consider this your gentle nudge to leap into the future.