MySQL inventor Michael “Monty” Widenius shares his thoughts on the deal and its impact on 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.
–Michael Widenius, Founder and original developer of MySQL.
Though he hopes for the third option, he doesn’t seem to have much faith in Oracle and its open source efforts. He also questions the idea of “owning” open source software, noting that communities are more important than trademarks.
It appears the roots of MySQL are already being reborn in Monty Program Ab. If this is a successful effort, I think MySQL enthusiasts will be fine, even if the database they use in no longer branded MySQL.
After months of rumors that IBM was to acquire Sun, Cnet is reporting that Sun is selling, but not to IBM, rather to Oracle. The deal is reportedly worth $7.4B.
I you’ve read my blog, you’ll know that my primary concern with the acquisition of Sun from any company is the fate MySQL, which Sun purchased last year. Leading up to that purchase, Oracle had failed several times to buy MySQL itself, which I was happy about. MySQL offers database software in a market in which Oracle has yet to find a foothold, and I feared that Oracle acquiring the company might stifle the development of the open source product.
So here we are about a year later and Oracle ends up with MySQL via Sun. What will happen to MySQL now? Maybe it will be good for it or maybe bad, or maybe its open source roots will see its core survive under a different name like MariaDB or Drizzle.
As mentioned a couple of weeks ago, IBM is looking to acquire Sun. According to the NY Times, the acquisition appears to be imminent for a cool $7 billion (h/t Slashdot).
My main question is “what will happen to MySQL?”, especially in the midst of confusion over what the real version of the popular DB software really is. According to the Times article, though, MySQL could be a key reason that IBM is making this move.
I.B.M.’s acquisition of Sun would disrupt that long partnership with Oracle. I.B.M. could also undercut Oracle by more actively promoting the free MySQL software, which has become the most popular database software with Internet companies. – NY Times article
My gut says Zend is next.
The New York Times is reporting (via Slashdot) that IBM and Sun are in talks regarding the former acquiring the latter.
The Wall Street Journal, quoting “people familiar with the matter,” reported Wednesday that International Business Machines was in talks to buy Sun for at least $6.5 billion in cash, a premium of more than 100 percent over the company’s closing share price Tuesday. Officials of Sun and IBM could not immediately be reached for comment.
This is an interesting development considering Sun’s recent acquisition of MySQL AB, and IBM’s speculated interest in Zend, the primary developers of PHP. Such a series of purchases would put IBM in a solid position to start using buzzwords like “cloud computing.”
Published on
January 16, 2008 in
tech.
Today brings news that Sun has acquired MySQL AB, the corporate entity that develops the open-source relational database management system MySQL. I don’t have much to say about this because I’m not sure what to think. I know that MySQL AB has been slowed since Oracle acquired Innobase, a company that provided the InnoDB database engine for MySQL that featured capabilities such as referential integrity that allowed MySQL to compete against the likes of Oracle’s database offerings. MySQL AB itself had spurned Oracle’s advances before, which makes this acquisition a little surprising. I have worked and continue to work on projects using MySQL. It will be interesting to see what unfolds.
