MySQL (5.1.41-3ubuntu12.10-log) parece dar resultados predecibles en la comparación de cadenas usando> (mayor que) y <(menor que):

select "a" > "a", "a" > "b", "b" > "a", "ab" > "aa", "ab" > "aabbbb";
+-----------+-----------+-----------+-------------+-----------------+
| "a" > "a" | "a" > "b" | "b" > "a" | "ab" > "aa" | "ab" > "aabbbb" |
+-----------+-----------+-----------+-------------+-----------------+
|         0 |         0 |         1 |           1 |               1 | 
+-----------+-----------+-----------+-------------+-----------------+

y también parece hacer uso de las teclas:

explain select productcode from products where productcode < 'no'; 
+----+-------------+----------+-------+-----------------+------+---------+------+------+--------------------------+
| id | select_type | table    | type  | possible_keys   | key  | key_len | ref  | rows | Extra                    |
+----+-------------+----------+-------+-----------------+------+---------+------+------+--------------------------+
|  1 | SIMPLE      | products | range | productcode,ppp | ppp  | 34      | NULL |  432 | Using where; Using index |
+----+-------------+----------+-------+-----------------+------+---------+------+------+--------------------------+

Esto no parece estar documentado: ¿es una función multiplataforma confiable?