So I read early this morning that Oracle has bought out Sun. Yadda yadda, one more large company buys out another large company…. However in this case it brings a few more complciations to the table. Sun who bought out MySQL (arguably the most popular open source database server) a while back is now owned by maybe the largest commercial database entity around. What does this mean for MySQL? This is a common question I read while trolling for more information today. Why is nobody asking what is going to happen to Oracle? “Does this mean the fall of the giant?” <- I’m not hearing this question anywhere.
Now I don’t feel just because a company or product is on top in the commercial world, it should auto-magically fall to the best rival in the open source world. Far from it. Good software is difficult to produce and harder to sell and distribute in this market economy and I think anyone who can create something from a few lines of code and stick with as it grows and becomes the greatest thing should be rewarded for their efforts. But what does this mean when one company now “owns” two very similar products at what I see as very opposite ends of the spectrum? Well I think Michael Widenius sums it up rather well on his blog (as he should, being the fonder and original developer for MySQL):
“What could be Oracle’s plan with MySQL? Three different plans come to mind:
- They are going to kill MySQL (either directly or by not developing/supporting it fully)
- MySQL will get sold of to another entity, either because Oracle doesn’t want it or becasue of anti-trust laws.
- They will embrace MySQL and Open Source and put their technical expertise on it to ensure that MySQL continues to be the most popular advanced Open Source database.
I am putting my hopes to the third option, but for succeeding in that Oracle has to also learn a lot about open source development and working with the community.”
I fully agree and do hope that Oracle embraces MySQL and steps up to do what I see could be a better job of handling the project than Sun did. There is no doubt that there are some challenges ahead for both Oracle and MySQL, but like all things adversity brings about greatness and I welcome anything that presents the ability for one or many to stand strong and be seen.
About Jason Brown
Jason Brown is the acting CTO for Atmail and focal point for Atmail Appliance systems, based out of Polson, Montana. Jason has a wide range of experience in providing hosting solutions for Email services for his own business. In his spare time, Jason promoting "Security Through Awareness" and researching on-line security tools (see http://thumbprintsecurity.com).
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