MySQL 5.6 has been the best release of the product ever and MySQL 5.7 is right around the corner. MySQL 5.7 will be higher performing, provide more features, and will break Drupal sites! By default 5.7 runs in 'STRICT MODE' by default for security reasons and this will cause problems for most Drupal sites -- but there are ways around this!

The cost based optimizer is changing the basis from disk i/0 to time and this will provide better performance on modern hardware. Replication gains multi-master support. These and other changes will impact you! So come learn about the coming changes before your have to!