Dear Lynn,

I truly appreciate your (or anyone else's) time and expertise. and I am sorry if I ask a lot. The truth is that I realized early on what you later commented: "There is so much you need to consider" but I was hoping to learn here on the forum... please do not feel uncomfortable to tell me, flat out: "no way that a forum can teach you how to evaluate and decide which is the best DB for your needs"... I was kind of expecting such a reply. Point is that I like to learn and solve my own problems but, on the other hand, I am also practical so I know when to seek advice.

I attach an image of the mySQL costs.

Unfortunately I still do not understand structured. Do you mean that data that has categories or slots or record is "structured" and data that is files (pdf, docx, xls, jpg, etc) is not structured? If I understood correctly, then we will need both structured and unstructured records. And, more importantly, queries must be able to find a word inside a contract that may be stored under a more general record of a transaction.

I will check our GoToMeeting. Yes, I know that my second requirement is not DB related but I was hoping that a DB user might have come across the same necessity in other firms.

Lynn, I appreciated you sharing your free time and expertise with me. If you can help further, thank you, if not I still appreciate and thank you all the same.

Tommaso