As of 4th July 2021, all our cloud-hosted customer’s MIDAS databases have been migrated across from MySQL to MariaDB.
What is MariaDB?
MariaDB is a community-developed “fork” of the popular MySQL database engine.
It was created by one of the original founders of MySQL, who forked it over concerns surrounding MySQL’s acquisition by Oracle Corporation in 2009. These concerns centered around rumors that Oracle were considering killing off MySQL to prevent competition with their own “Oracle” database. In the end, that didn’t actually happen and MySQL continues to remain available. But MariaDB continues to gain in popularity year on year, and has a number of advantages over MySQL.
Why migrate from MySQL to MariaDB?
MariaDB offers improved performance over MySQL in many scenarios.
MariaDB is community-driven, whereas MySQL is owned and developed by Oracle Corporation.
MariaDB is arguably in more active development. (MariaDB has 193,318 code commits – the latest was today, MySQL has 163,534 – the latest was 3 months ago *)
MariaDB continues to gain in popularity.
* correct at time of writing
Now, we’ve been thoroughly testing MariaDB in our MIDAS development environment for well over a year now. In fact, it’s now become our “preferred” database engine over MySQL. We now only use MySQL for testing purposes. Because we now develop primarily using MariaDB, it made sense to move cloud-hosted customers over to this database engine too.
Will I notice any difference?
Our cloud-hosted customers may notice small performance improvements when performing certain operations in their online booking system. Other than that customers shouldn’t notice any other obvious changes.
That doesn’t mean that there aren’t any additional benefits to MariaDB though! One of the things we’ve now been able to do in to MariaDB is implement “data-at-rest” encryption.
Data-at-rest encryption
When it comes to encrypting data send over the internet, there are broadly two different types of encryption; encryption in transit, and encryption at rest.
Encryption in transit deals with the secure transmission of data between your browser and a server. For example, if you submit a form on a web page, the data you entered needs to be transmitted (or “sent”) to a server. If the form was on a web page severed from a URL beginning “http://”, the data is transmitted unencrypted to the sever. This means that they data you’re submitting could potentially be intercepted and read during transit.
A form submitted on a website accessed over httpS, with correctly configured security certificates, will mean than the data will be encrypted in transit to the server.
All of our cloud-hosted MIDAS systems are accessible over secure https only. We support the latest standards and protocols (including TLS 1.3), and disallow older/obsolete/insecure protocols (like SSL 2/3, and TLS 1.0/1.1). If you’re interested, you can view our A+ rating on SSL Labs.
Encryption at rest on the other hand deals with how data is actually stored on a server (i.e. on a physical disk). Data may be encrypted in transit, yet not encrypted at rest, or vice versa.
The most secure systems are those which encrypt data both in transit AND at rest.
As of 4th July 2021, we’re pleased to announce that all our cloud hosted customer’s databases are also now encrypted at rest too!
What about self-hosted customers?
This month’s migration from MySQL to MariaDB affects cloud-hosted customers only.
Self-hosted customers have a choice between either using MySQL or MariaDB for their MIDAS database.
We have no plans to discontinue support for MySQL in the foreseeable future, and will continue to provide support to customers who are using MySQL for their MIDAS booking systems.
The environment, and our combined impact upon it, is an important global issue. Every day there are new headlines highlighting the environment challenges facing our world, and ways that we can all help combat climate change and reduce our carbon footprint.
Earth Hour
Here at MIDAS you may be aware that we have previously taken part in Earth Hour and we will be taking part again this year on Saturday 27 March 2021. The aim of the campaign is to raise awareness of environmental issues and asks for both individuals and businesses alike to switch off their lights for an hour between 8.30pm – 9.30pm in their local time zone.
How MIDAS is responding
Whilst thinking about this year’s Earth Hour we have been reviewing our current environmental strategies and looking at ways in which we could further reduce our carbon footprint.
As MIDAS is an online room booking system, we’re conscious of our environmental impact. We’re also pro-active in researching ways we can reduce our impact on CO2 emissions.
As part of our research, we recently discovered the Website Carbon Calculator. The website carbon calculator uses five key metrics to estimate the carbon emissions of a website. These factors include the volume of data being transferred when a web page is viewed, the type and amount of energy used at the data center serving the web page, as well as the volume of traffic to the site.
The carbon calculator remarks that:
The average web page tested produces 1.76 grams CO2 per page view. For a website with 10,000 monthly page views, that’s 211 kg CO2 per year.
websitecarbon.com
For our own website homepage, the Carbon Calculator estimates that MIDAS is 86% cleaner than all other websites tested. It estimates that just 0.19g of CO2 is produced every time someone views our home page (1).
We also compared our website’s carbon footprint against those of other similar businesses in our sector, to see how we fare in comparison (1).
Company
Comparison against all websites tested through the carbon calculator
CO2(g) produced per view of home page
MIDAS
86% Cleaner
0.19
Roomtime
82% Cleaner
0.26
Supersaas
82% Cleaner
0.26
Skedda
75% Cleaner
0.40
Acuityscheduling
70% Cleaner
0.49
Teem
59% Cleaner
0.73
Bookinglive
52% Dirtier
1.00
Roomzilla
52% Dirtier
1.00
Getjoan
56% Dirtier
1.10
Myrendezvous
63% Dirtier
1.35
Cloudbooking
66% Dirtier
1.47
Bookitwise
68% Dirtier
1.54
Deskflex
92% Dirtier
4.45
Meetio
98% Dirtier
12.01
(1) Data correct at time of testing, and purely relates to the amount of CO2 produced per view of the homepage of each website.
As can be seen from the information produced by the website carbon calculator, there are some significant differences between some of these businesses. In some cases, viewing the home page of one of these other websites produces more than 60 times the amount of CO2 than visiting MIDAS!
Now, when choosing a room booking system, resource scheduling software, or appointment scheduler, the amount of carbon it produces probably isn’t top of your list of criteria. In fact, it may not factor in your decision making process at all!
Choosing greener online businesses
Most businesses, when focusing on reducing their carbon emissions, look to do so in “visible” ways. For instance, by reducing heating costs through better insulation, or reducing electricity costs by switching to LED light bulbs.
Reducing the amount of carbon produced by the various software products they choose is a less obvious and less “visible” action.
But when you consider the vast differences that do exist today between software vendor’s carbon production, choosing a software vendor with a low carbon footprint makes sense! Not only does it help with your own business’ green credentials, but it also – more importantly – it helps our planet.
Why choose a business that would require the equivalent of 60 trees a year to absorb the carbon it produces, when you could choose a business requiring just 2?
For a room booking and resource scheduling system committed to being green, be sure to consider MIDAS.
Fixed: Cumulative roll-up of various fixes for issues discovered since v4.26
How To Get MIDAS v4.27…
“Self Hosted” Customers:
Self-Hosted customers with active Support Subscriptions will be able to update to v4.27 in the coming weeks. It only takes a couple of clicks – simply log in to your MIDAS system and go to MIDAS Admin Options → Manage MIDAS → Update.
If no update is available, please check back again in a few days time, as we are staggering updates for self-hosted customers over the next few weeks.
“Cloud Hosted” Customers:
Cloud-Hosted customers don’t need to do anything! – All our active Cloud-Hosted MIDAS customers will be automatically updated to this latest version of MIDAS this coming weekend (13-14th March 2021)
15% OFF for our 15th Anniversary!
To celebrate our 15th year in business, all this week we’re offering 15% OFF NEW PURCHASES OF MIDAS.
We believe in giving customers maximum choice. That’s why we offer MIDAS in both a cloud-hosted edition (with monthly and annual subscription options), as well as a self-hosted (on-premises) edition for a one-time cost (with an optional subscription)
With this generous 15% discount, your organization can start scheduling with MIDAS for less than $30!
To get 15% off your initial purchase of MIDAS, simply head over to our secure checkout, and use the Promo Code MIDAS15.
You’ll need to hurry though! – This limited time offer expires on 14th March 2021
March 2021 marks 15 years since the first public release of MIDAS.
MIDAS v1.00 was first unveiled to the world on 11th March 2006.
Where it all began…
Work began on MIDAS in December 2005. At that time, Mark Harrington, the creator of MIDAS, was working in a brand new Performing Arts College – the first one of its kind in Greater Manchester, UK.
This new school for students aged 11-16 boasted impressive state-of-the-art facilities. These included a sports hall, gymnasium, all weather pitch, atrium, conservatory, a 300-seat community theatre, outdoor stage, recording studios and rehearsal space.
All these spaces were to be available for internal use by the school. Then in the evenings and at weekends, they would be hired out to external and community groups.
Soon after the new school opened, the school appointed a Community Facilities Manager, Miriam, in November 2005. Her role was to oversee the booking and smooth operation of the new facilities, which were in very high demand by the local community.
It soon became apparent that the software the school had been using for handling their room bookings was not up to scratch. It was simply not meeting the increasing demands on the new facilities.
The (now defunct) software named “VenueBooker”, was slow, cumbersome, buggy, and not very user-friendly! Consequently, Miriam and Mark both spent time researching what other alternatives were available.
After much discussion, frustration, and plenty of sentences stating “wouldn’t it be great if we had a system that could…?“, they soon realized that there were no alternatives available that would do exactly what was required out of a room scheduling system.
Mark, coming from a strong programming background, was sure he could create something that would do everything a Community Facilities Manager would need to manage facilities, clients and bookings.
So Mark sat down with Miriam and the two of them “brainstormed” how she wanted the software to ideally function.
Dozens of sheets of paper later, covered with all kinds of scribbled notes, arrows, and flow charts, Mark had something to go away and work on!
Mark named the software “MIDAS”, an acronym, although to this day he remains elusive as to whether it actually stands for “Mark’s Infrastructure Daily Allocation System“, or “Miriam’s Infrastructure Daily Allocation System“(!)
Over the Christmas holidays of 2005, Mark worked diligently to develop MIDAS so that it could be “rolled out” in the new year.
He even spent New Year’s Eve sat in front of his computer at the stroke of midnight, coding away!
Within the first few weeks of 2006 (and numerous revisions of the software later!), MIDAS went “live” at the school for the first time. It transformed the way staff and external clients booked rooms.
Now, for the first time all staff could check room availability using their web browser. The booking process was simpler, efficient, and stream-lined! The number of bookings and revenue substantially increased during the year, and double-bookings were finally a thing of the past!
An early version of MIDAS in 2005
Going Public…
Realizing the potential of MIDAS to help other schools and organizations in similar situations, just a few months after the first prototypes, MIDAS v1.00 saw its first public release on 11th March 2006.
Fast forward to 2021…
15 years on, and MIDAS is still going strong!
Our software remains in active development, and we remain true to our original ethos of helping people better manage their facilities and resources.
New feature-rich updates are regularly released – at least 3 times every year.
Our global customer base continues to grow as word spreads about MIDAS.
Celebrating our 15th Anniversary
To coincide with our 15th anniversary, we’ll be releasing the latest update to our MIDAS software, v4.27. Learn more about what’s new in this latest version here.
Also to mark the 15th anniversary of our MIDAS room booking & resource scheduling, we’re offering new customers 15% off their purchase of MIDAS!
You’ll need to hurry though, this offer is only valid until 14th March 2021.
The future…
We’re tremendously proud to have been here for the past 15 years.
In that time, dozens – if not hundreds – of competitors have appeared (and many have since disappeared!).
To all our customers; whether you’ve been with us for the past 15 years, or just the past month – we appreciate you choosing MIDAS and sincerely thank you for your support! – You’ve committed to us, and we in turn continue to be fully committed to you.
If you’re not yet a customer, we appreciate that there’s a wealth of choice out there today when it comes to choosing a room booking system.
Maybe you’re currently considering a change and are evaluating a number of different scheduling software solutions. Don’t forget that we offer a no-risk FREE 30-day trial of MIDAS. Activate your FREE Trial today, and explore what MIDAS has to offer!
Also, when evaluating potential solutions, make sure you take into account 3 key factors:
How long a product has been around?
How frequently are software updates released?
How prompt and forthcoming is product support?
With MIDAS, you get a solid product, with a proven track record. You get a stable system that’s in active development, and with unrivalled support to back it up!
Finally, don’t forget, we’re currently offering new customers 15% off with Promo Code MIDAS15.*
* Promo Code valid until 14th March 2021 for new purchases of MIDAS only.
