An assessment of the Oracle-Sun acquisition in terms of the future for the open source database MySQL is presented by Steve Evans of CBR in the article "What now for MySQL?" He reviews the hard fight Oracle eventually won to become owner of MySQL, and offers why the EU's decision should assuage some of the worries of the open source community.

In 1994, David Axmark and Monty Widenius started developing MySQL. While Widenius waged a hard fought battle to keep Oracle's hands off MySQL - citing the potential conflict of interest with Oracle Database 11g product - Axmark remained under the media radar. He recently revealed to Evans that ultimately he believes MySQL can continue to flourish under Oracle.

"Will they aggressively sell to companies that Oracle can sell to? Never. Will it hurt the current MySQL customers? Probably not," Axmark opines. "There’s no money to be made for them there. Upselling current MySQL customers to Oracle would be tiny money. Stopping Oracle customers from downgrading to any open source database will be lots of money.”

Axmark also believes that aiming MySQL at a market where Oracle’s existing database applications do not operate will mean that the two can coexist. “If I was Oracle, I would aim MySQL even more at the web sector, where Oracle doesn’t really have anything. So more development, more uses and they don’t really lose any revenue. I wouldn’t aim it at the enterprise sector where Oracle already is,” he told CBR.

Another perspective offered is from Oracle UK Database and BI Technology director Andrew Bond, who told CBR he doesn't see the situation as an either/or one.

"...it’s not a choice between open source and proprietary. The two are complementary,” Bond said. “We support both, and customers just have to look at what we’ve done in that space,” he added, referring to Oracle’s February 2006 acquisition of Sleepycat, the firm that oversaw the Berkeley DB family of open source developer databases.

Axmark concurs, but with reservations. “Of course they can co-exist,” he said. “But with closed source you have to be very sure about your market, because if someone can figure out the business model and do the same via open source, they’ll kill you. It’s hard to compete with free.”

Some of the biggest names on the web use MySQL, including Wikipedia, Facebook, Google and Twitter as well as other technology giants such as Dell and Cisco.

The CBR opinion on the future of MySQL under Oracle: "Its co-founder seems relaxed about MySQL’s future and as he points out, it operates in a different market to Oracle’s offering. Oracle would gain nothing from killing MySQL, apart from alienating the innovative, passionate and loyal open source community."

More Information

What now for MySQL? - CBR article

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