[allan_s]

> I always wondered why MySQL gained more popularity.

very simple

  1. LAMP , you got everything packaged, and the database was MySQL
  2. soon a lot of cheap hosting options had MySQL as the shared database options
  3. phpmyadmin to administrate your website database from a website

I may be missing some history on the PostgreSQL side, but at least ~10 years ago, MySQL was the de-facto option for the wannabe web developer.

[LaSombra]

I may be wrong but I also credit that MySQL was way easier to administer and didn't have the concept of schema similar to Oracle's.

You installed, ran the "mysql" client application to connect to the server and off you go. PostgreSQL requires you to run as a different user to configure it.

As I said, I might be wrong, but that is my impression using PostgreSQL on Linux.