Is Mysql Threatened By Oracle Acquisition?

[marcm]

Has anyone else seen this site yet?

http://www.helpmysql.org

Seems legit. I would think this is a big issue for Webyog and the rest of us who are developing with MySQL.

[DonQuichote]

Yes I saw it. It's funny. This site should have been in place when MySQL was handed over to Sun. Now MySQL is already out of hand, this site comes much too late. You can petition what you want, but the independent MySQL is already gone for quite some time now.

It's good good that the site says that the GPL is not the answer to the problem. Maybe it could be, if someone with a good insight and programming skills or at least programming resources (the ability to invite or hire programmers) would take it over. For now, the most famous fork is Drizzle, which more destroys MySQL than saves it. Lots of features and even complete OS support is dropped and what's left is too little to be a serious or even feasible MySQL alternative.

Which makes me sad. As I think now, there is no good alternative. The only database that is somewhat capable of being used in an evolving project is MS SQL Server, but of course it does not run on any of our servers or even my workstation (it won't run on Linux). PostgreSQL would run on it, but seems totally inadequate for agile work.

[marcm]

I honestly don't know enough about the other databases out there yet to have an opinion.

I do know that I don't like the idea Oracle owning MySQL. Just like I wouldn't want Microsoft owning Firefox, Linux, PHP or Apache!

I haven't formed an opinion yet on Monty and his intentions, but there are plenty of opinions to go around.

I know his current project is MariaDB. He has invested in his new company quite a bit, so his campaign is likely motivated by MariaDB's future to some degree. I don't know enough about the licensing to know what would happen to MariaDB if Oracle slowed down or even killed MySQL development. One thing for sure though with this campaign is that MariaDB will get a lot of coverage that it didn't have before.

[marcm]

Does Webyog and co have any official standpoint on this issue?

[marcm]

'marcm' wrote on '04:

Does Webyog and co have any official standpoint on this issue?

Hmm one week later, I guess no comment?

[Rohit]

'marcm' wrote on '13:

Hmm one week later, I guess no comment?

Oops. Sorry for the late reply. We have no intentions of keeping quiet! Completely got sucked into the launch of http://www.mailbrowser.com.

From a business perspective, MySQL adoption is growing rapidly and Webyog will continue to invest heavily in MySQL Tools. Dec'09 was the best month for Webyog both in terms of licenses sold and revenues. A majority of Web 2.0 websites are powered by MySQL and they are not migrating to an alternative anytime soon. MySQL is dominant in Shared Hosting environments. Popular applications like WordPress, etc are fully dependent on MySQL at this point in time.

From a technology perspective, even if there are multiple forks, all variants will ensure that they work well with MySQL Client API. None of the MySQL forks would break compatibility with the MySQL Client API if they were to get any traction. SQLyog & MONyog interact with MySQL servers using the MySQL Client API and we don't foresee any technical issues on that front.

In terms of partnership, we have been MySQL(Sun) partners and recently we have also partnered with Monty Program AB.

Does that answer you question? I would he happy to answer specific questions that you might have.

[marcm]

Thanks for your reply. Well, I do have a couple of specific questions.

1. Are you against the acquisition of MySQL by Oracle, or are you for it, or neutral?

2. Monty suggests that if Oracle were to kill it or slow it down in the long run, it would in effect kill forks of MySQL because of the lack of ongoing development of MySQL. I'm not sure about the licensing, but if MySQL were killed, say after v6 is released, could MariaDB continue to build on and release subsequent versions, like MariaDB 7, for example, or would the licensing have some impact on it?

My applications are based on MySQL and it concerns me naturally. It also concerns me for the overall availability and development of a free and open LAMP stack for current and future students and small businesses. I'm sure there will be future alternatives, but I don't want to imagine having to rework my code to work with something else. I'm sure there will be problems.

It also concerns me for a budding company such as yours, which is so heavily tied to MySQL.

[Rohit]

'marcm' wrote on '14:

Thanks for your reply. Well, I do have a couple of specific questions.

1. Are you against the acquisition of MySQL by Oracle, or are you for it, or neutral?

2. Monty suggests that if Oracle were to kill it or slow it down in the long run, it would in effect kill forks of MySQL because of the lack of ongoing development of MySQL. I'm not sure about the licensing, but if MySQL were killed, say after v6 is released, could MariaDB continue to build on and release subsequent versions, like MariaDB 7, for example, or would the licensing have some impact on it?

My applications are based on MySQL and it concerns me naturally. It also concerns me for the overall availability and development of a free and open LAMP stack for current and future students and small businesses. I'm sure there will be future alternatives, but I don't want to imagine having to rework my code to work with something else. I'm sure there will be problems.

It also concerns me for a budding company such as yours, which is so heavily tied to MySQL.

1. I guess we are neutral. InnoDB has been an Oracle product for some time and they have done a decent job maintaining it.

2. I don't think there will be significant impact. MySQL is GPL based so anybody can continue development. Yes, only Oracle can license MySQL use in embedded environments (wherein you distribute MySQL as a part of a closed-source application). For example, Symantec embeds MySQL with some of their enterprise products. Apart from that specific scenario I don't anticipate any licensing issues. Anybody can patch MySQL, redistribute the patched MySQL or provide support services on MySQL.

It is true that a bulk of our revenues come from MySQL Tools at this point in time. The good news is that this business is growing. At the same time, we have been investing in other products like http://www.visifire.com, http://www.mailbrowser.com & http://www.logmytask.com.

[marcm]

Thanks for your reply Rohit, and best of luck with your new offerings.

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