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SAP and MySQL Join Forces

An anonymous reader writes "Heise Online is reporting that SAP and MySQL are going to cooperate (German article, you may want to use Google's translation). Short summary: MySQL and SAP are going to develop a new database server. 'The primary responsibility for the development and product management is with MySQL' says SAP spokesperson Karl-Heinz Hess. Until the new database is released, SAP will continue to develop its own free database system SAP DB, however it will now use the MySQL brand name." On a related note, IBM is introducing a low-end version of DB2.

229 comments

  1. SAP? by TheRaven64 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Isn't SAP the database formerly known as Abadas? I was under the impression that it was already vastly superior to MySQL. What exactly is MySQL contributing to this?

    --
    I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    1. Re:SAP? by cshark · · Score: 0

      Brand recognition I would guess. SAP database has had very little success in the open source community.

      --

      This signature has Super Cow Powers

    2. Re:SAP? by jdh-22 · · Score: 5, Informative

      SAP DB is pretty much equivalent to Oracle 7.3.4 which is to say that it's a solid product for many real-world applications, but lacks many of the features for truly high-end deployment, like clustering, complex replication, guaranteed messaging, etc. I'd take Sapdb over MySQL any day, and probably over Postgres too. Another nice thing about SAP DB is that it can emulate Oracle's system tables, so an Oracle DBA can administer a SAP DB system very easily.

      --
      Every Super Villan uses Linux.
    3. Re:SAP? by red_dragon · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Isn't SAP the database formerly known as [Adabas]?

      Kind of; IIRC, it is a fork of Adabas.

      What exactly is MySQL contributing to this?

      My guess is that the new database will be much easier to set up and manage than SAPDB in its current form. Have you ever tried installing it from source? Saying that it is nearly impossible to get it to compile is an understatement. Setting up a MySQL database is absolutely trivial by comparison, which is (IMHO) the primary reason for its popularity. I'd love to use SAPDB, but I don't have time to deal with the frustration that its installation involves; any improvement in that area would be a welcome change.

      --
      In Soviet Russia, Jesus asks: "What Would You Do?"
    4. Re:SAP? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What gave you that impression? "Talk" or personal experience?

    5. Re:SAP? by davidkw · · Score: 4, Informative

      SAP isn't a database. It is a software package, a collection of programs like PeopleSoft and Oracle Applications, which allows for the management HR, payroll, and industry specific applications... SAP software still runs best on Oracle databases, although they will never limit themselves to that statement. SAP is database independent and mySql is just another tool that they can use for marketing

      --
      DKW
    6. Re:SAP? by PhiberOptix · · Score: 1

      actually it is a fork of Adabas D, the "relational" db version of Adabas. It never took off or had the same success as Adabas C, which wasn't a rdbm but was quite popular in mainframes.

    7. Re:SAP? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      SAP released SAP-DB to open-source in October 2000. You can read the press-release dated Otober 5, 2000 on SAP's website.

    8. Re:SAP? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Adabas is developed by Software AG, and is nothing to do with SAP. Adabas C is for mainframes, and has been around for over 30 years, whereas Adabas D is available for PCs.

    9. Re:SAP? by Ed+Avis · · Score: 1

      Hmm. So does this mean that SAPDB is to Postgres what Postgres is to MySQL - a more-capable but less popular and somewhat harder-to-set-up alternative?

      Apart from the Oracle system tables emulation what other features does SAPDB have over Postgres? Does it have its own PL/SQL-like language? Are there benchmarks?

      I must say that if the next version of MySQL has the industrial-strength-databaseness of SAPDB and the ease of use of MySQL, that's good news for everyone. I hope it will also have the multi-version concurrency control of Oracle and Postgres (so that writers never wait for readers and vice versa).

      --
      -- Ed Avis ed@membled.com
    10. Re:SAP? by Sxooter · · Score: 1

      Actually, the folks who are working on kernel tuning for database performance are switching FROM SAPdb to Postgresql because Postgresql is generally much faster, especially on multi-CPU machines.

      --

      --- It is not the things we do which we regret the most, but the things which we don't do.
  2. A dynamite combination? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is a good thing. A database with the features that SAP DB has and the ease-of-use that MySQL offers could be very interesting indeed. Good luck to them - I for one will watch the space very eagerly.

    1. Re:A dynamite combination? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But there are already databases that do that. One's called Postgresql, the other's called Interbase.

    2. Re:A dynamite combination? by PizzaFace · · Score: 3, Funny
      A database with the features that SAP DB has and the ease-of-use that MySQL offers could be very interesting indeed.
      Let's hope it doesn't end up with the features of MySQL and the ease-of-use of SAP DB.
    3. Re:A dynamite combination? by Not+The+Real+Me · · Score: 1

      Instead of MySQL 3.23.XXX or 4.XXX or MySQL Max, I think you'll now see an addition to the MySQL line, something like MySQL Enterprise.

      I doubt the folks are MySQL will roll everything into a single database. That doesn't make sense. Sybase and Oracle have personal editions of their big servers.

      I suspect this is what you'll see with MySQL. 1 version without all the fancy stuff -- the 3.X line, one version with transactions -- the 4.X series and then one version with transactions, stored procedures, constraints, foreign keys, etc. -- the database formerly known as sapdb.

      The users then pick the database with the features that they need. And when it's time to upsize or downsize, get a MySQL tool that lets you transfer existing databases to the next higher level server.

  3. So does this mean... by zutroy · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...that MySQL will now simulcast in Spanish?

    1. Re:So does this mean... by el-spectre · · Score: 1

      Si!

      --
      "Faith: Belief without evidence in what is told by one who speaks without knowledge, of things without parallel." - A.B.
  4. SAP and MySQL - The Difference is in the Name! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    SAP's lack of success can be contributed to their name. Who wants to be called a "SAP"? No one! Coversely, MySQL's success is also due to its name. It's MySQL, and not YourSQL. Everyone loves owning things and calling them theirs.

    1. Re:SAP and MySQL - The Difference is in the Name! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well the question I ask is if you refer to MySQL by its correct pronunciation - my-es-queue-el then why don't you refer to SAP by its correct pronunciation - es-ay-pee?

      Seems to me that that is only fair.

    2. Re:SAP and MySQL - The Difference is in the Name! by cshark · · Score: 0

      Actually bro, your wrong it's my se-quel. Not hard.

      --

      This signature has Super Cow Powers

    3. Re:SAP and MySQL - The Difference is in the Name! by mikewhittaker · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Despite SQL guru (and number 2 to Ted Codd) Chris Date stating that it's pronounced S-Q-L, because "SEQUEL" was an earlier database language ?

    4. Re:SAP and MySQL - The Difference is in the Name! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      For shame on you! Microsoft loving blasphemer!! Only a MS SQL Server user would pronounce SQL as se-quel.

    5. Re:SAP and MySQL - The Difference is in the Name! by MattRog · · Score: 2, Informative

      Although this is off-topic I've wanted to use this link for a long time so, well, here it is.

      "..the INGRES project at U.C. Berkeley. The INGRES project had a language called QUEL. They started a company that implemented QUEL. QUEL fought SQL tooth-and-nail, and explained how QUEL was better than SQL in many different ways, and in fact it is better at doing aggregates. There are lots of areas where QUEL is better."

      "..Tom Price: Although the first code they [Ingress] shipped was SQL on top of QUEL ...

      Mike Blasgen: It was see-QUEL. [laughter] That's right."
      http://www.mcjones.org/System_R/SQL_Reuni on_95/sql r95-Teradata.html

      --

      Thanks,
      --
      Matt
    6. Re:SAP and MySQL - The Difference is in the Name! by grub · · Score: 3, Funny


      It's MySQL, and not YourSQL. Everyone loves owning things and calling them theirs

      Ohh.. so that's why Windows owns the desktop, because of the My Computer icon. All this time I thought it was because of robust coding and rock solid performance.

      --
      Trolling is a art,
    7. Re:SAP and MySQL - The Difference is in the Name! by Sxooter · · Score: 2, Informative

      huh. I guess the docs on the mysql site must be wrong then.
      http://www.mysql.com/doc/en/What-is.html
      s ays:

      The official way to pronounce MySQL is ``My Ess Que Ell'' (not ``my sequel''), but we don't mind if you pronounce it as ``my sequel'' or in some other localised way.

      but hey, who reads the docs anyway, not a MySQL guru like you eh? :-)

      --

      --- It is not the things we do which we regret the most, but the things which we don't do.
    8. Re:SAP and MySQL - The Difference is in the Name! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Only MCSE certified poser wannabes call it sequel.

    9. Re:SAP and MySQL - The Difference is in the Name! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      woah, i just made a very similar comment. right on.

    10. Re:SAP and MySQL - The Difference is in the Name! by Lord+Angelbane · · Score: 1

      Funny, because people who actually work with SAP can easily tell the uneducated from those who actually work with it, because they pronounce it "sap," rather than its correct pronunciation ESS AY PEE.

    11. Re:SAP and MySQL - The Difference is in the Name! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So they should call it MySaq, for people that like to own things AND brag about them. :)

    12. Re:SAP and MySQL - The Difference is in the Name! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      so if they change the "SA" to "IGOTTA" they could be "I GOTTA PEE". :-P

    13. Re:SAP and MySQL - The Difference is in the Name! by axxackall · · Score: 1
      Now I know why MySQL is popular and PostgreSQL is not: it's all about the name! Try to pronounce PostgreSQL 20 times fast enough. Now same with MySQL. Which one is easier? That's exactly what your boss is thinking, the guy who is paying your salary.

      P.S. I wonder why SleepyCat is not the most popular database? Oh, I know - the boss afraids to leak any evidence of his child porns. Again, that's right - it's all about the name!

      --

      Less is more !
    14. Re:SAP and MySQL - The Difference is in the Name! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This always annoys me too.. I always cringe when someone says 'sequel' refering to SQL. Yes, originally there was a database called QUEL, pronounced as it's written. And there was SQL on QUEL (hence sequel), but it's now pronounced ess que ell.

    15. Re:SAP and MySQL - The Difference is in the Name! by jonadab · · Score: 1

      I've been pronouncing it as skwul, where the u is de-emphasised as
      with a schwa. I also thought about pronouncing it "squall", but I
      find "skwul" just rolls off the tongue more easily for me, and it's
      more obvious that that would of course be spelled "sql"; if you say
      "squall", you expect an a in it someplace.

      I certainly can't imagine pronouncing it "sequel"; that adds in
      _two_ extra vowells that clearly aren't there, which is totally
      unnecessary. I once heard someone talking about "sequel server"
      in a speech, and it took me fifteen minutes to figure out he was
      talking about MS SQL Server, even though I knew very well from
      context that it had something to do with databases. That's the
      only time I've ever heard "SQL" pronounced as "sequel".

      --
      Cut that out, or I will ship you to Norilsk in a box.
    16. Re:SAP and MySQL - The Difference is in the Name! by Sxooter · · Score: 1

      A bit more trivia, Postgres, which decended from the same roots as ingress, also transitioned from QUEL to SQL, and that was when they changed the name to PostgreSQL.

      --

      --- It is not the things we do which we regret the most, but the things which we don't do.
  5. Actuality by DreadSpoon · · Score: 5, Insightful

    A lot of code "mergers" tend to be announced, but nothing ever comes of it. The idea of a merged feature set sounds promising, but it is often difficult to merge the underlying code, which can be severely different even for features present in both code bases.

    Additionally, for open-source or largely community developed projects, it's easy for the leaders to announce a merger or roadplan, but a whole 'nother game when it comes to getting the volunteer coders to actually do it; switching codebases or doing the grunt work of merges isn't the kind of this most hackers find sexy or appealing.

    Point being, how much of this merger is something that's actually going to happen, how much is just a transfer of resources (versus merging of code), and so on?

    1. Re:Actuality by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Geez. Could you at least be bothered to read the summary if not the article? MySQL is creating a new database server not combining their existing code with SAP's. From the sounds of it SAP's database isn't even a factor. They are strictly adding a recognized name to an open source product.

    2. Re:Actuality by m0nkyman · · Score: 2, Insightful

      From the MySQL website:
      "MySQL AB employs about 70 staff around the globe, and thousands more contribute to the success of MySQL by testing the software, integrating it into other software products, and writing about it."

      There are actually a fair whack of people at MySQL and SAP that are paid to do this. Like most of the major open source projects, a fair amount of the programming is done by people whose job it is. The myth of people doing it for free is just that. A myth. There are people who write code as a hobby, but the ones who day in day out contribute code are usually paid to do it by a company who finds the software useful.

      --
      ~ a low user id is no indication I have a clue what I'm talking about.
    3. Re:Actuality by brer_rabbit · · Score: 4, Funny

      The UNION of these two databases can't JOIN? Maybe they didn't PREPARE? If they can't COMMIT what they brought to the TABLE then perhaps they should DROP dead.

    4. Re:Actuality by Khalid · · Score: 1

      Not always true, I think KDE is a notable exception to this, and this is because the project has been very open from the beginning and has always welcomed new comers. There is a lot of FAQ, developer documentation to help people contribute. Conversely a lot of projects don't necessarily welcome outside contributions and MySql is one of them, I believe this is mainly for political reasons, MySQL AB wants probably to control all what goes into their code. Many projects didn't manage to get many contributors for technical reasons, and Mozilla is among them, because of the very steep the learning.

    5. Re:Actuality by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not always true, I think KDE is a notable exception to this,

      No, many TrollTech/SCO/Canopy Group employees work on KDE as it is a draw for the extremely pricey licensing ($3000 per developer) for non-open source development using the Qt toolkit.

    6. Re:Actuality by mcrbids · · Score: 1

      The myth of people doing it for free is just that. A myth.

      If a company is "doing it for free" and a company consists of people, then you have people doing it for free.

      Where's the myth?

      --
      I have no problem with your religion until you decide it's reason to deprive others of the truth.
  6. Re:SAP?-Strike a pose. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "What exactly is MySQL contributing to this?"

    Page hits.

  7. Lets hope they dont call it by sfraggle · · Score: 5, Funny

    "SAP and MySQL announced that they would call the new database 'MySQL Firebird'.."

    --
    were you expecting to see a sig here? perhaps you'd rather see the inside of an ambulance!
    1. Re:Lets hope they dont call it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually it's codenamed MySQL Mozilla Firebird

    2. Re:Lets hope they dont call it by zoid.com · · Score: 4, Funny

      They have already decided to call it Mozilla.

    3. Re:Lets hope they dont call it by grub · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      Oh? I heard it was to be GNU/MySQL-MozillaPhoenixFirebird.

      --
      Trolling is a art,
    4. Re:Lets hope they dont call it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Almost, it's GNU/MySQL-MozillaPhoenixFirebird XP Plus!.

    5. Re:Lets hope they dont call it by MisterFancypants · · Score: 1

      Stop lying.

    6. Re:Lets hope they dont call it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No they'll call it mymozsappysql

    7. Re:Lets hope they dont call it by snoochyboochy · · Score: 1

      I was under the impression that MyGNUSAP-Firebird was technicaly differentiated enough from Pontiac's offerings that the the FTC would give it the OK....

    8. Re:Lets hope they dont call it by Pharmboy · · Score: 2, Funny

      Firebird = "Firebird Isn't Really Expected to Be an Ingenious or Real Database"

      Another recursive acronym.....

      --
      Tequila: It's not just for breakfast anymore!
    9. Re:Lets hope they dont call it by mikewhittaker · · Score: 1

      "The Firebird" is a fairy story ...

      (ballet suite by Stravinsky)

  8. Unofficial Pout by emo+boy · · Score: 0

    I don't care what they do! I'm gonna run MySQL 3.23.56

  9. predicting the future.... by DailyGrind · · Score: 4, Funny

    Oracle sues SAP for $1Billion dollars claiming that SAP, which had previously licenced Oracle technology, is transferring Oracle's IP to mySQL.

    L.Ellison is heard saying: "There is no way that mySQL could become enterprise ready so quickly without help from SAP and through the use of Oracle's IP"

    --
    You will have to pry my proprietary software $$$ from my cold dead hands!
    1. Re:predicting the future.... by cshark · · Score: 1, Funny

      The microsoft licenses oracle saying, "what conflict of interest? Na... We support your right to bilk the customer for all they're worth."

      --

      This signature has Super Cow Powers

    2. Re:predicting the future.... by MisterFancypants · · Score: 1
      The microsoft licenses oracle saying, "what conflict of interest? Na... We support your right to bilk the customer for all they're worth."

      I realize this is meant as a joke, but... not likely. As much FUD as Microsoft might spread about Linux, they would much rather see Oracle fail than see Linux fail (though in the end they want to destroy both).

    3. Re:predicting the future.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually, that would be a more believable claim than SCO's. As everyone loves to quote, "Database development *is* rocket science." I'm not sure it's not harder to get a database to enterprise than a whole OS.

  10. no more RDBS? by linuxislandsucks · · Score: 0, Troll

    When the push towards removing the asine way RDBS serializes object amoung oop lanagues..with such new stuff as using oop bojects in ram as the db integrated with such new frameworks as AOP and consildation within the DB industry

    It dose make sense for MYSQL and SAP to combine fores..however it still does not delay the transfromation or convergnece in going from RDBS to something more attuned to how we program in OOP languages..

    You would think that they might be looking at something like Prevalyer and seeing how to use that approach..

    --
    Don't Tread on OpenSource
    1. Re:no more RDBS? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You mean like SQLDMO, DAO, RDO and ADO?

      Microsoft has had that forever. SQL Server is probalby their finest product.

      Every OSS database solution is mickey mouse in comparison.

      Posted AC since anti-free-garbage comments are modded flamebait. But anyone whos familiar with the subject knows I'm right.

      MySQL is absolute shit when it comes to the need for a real RDMBS

    2. Re:no more RDBS? by swordgeek · · Score: 1

      mysql has been getting...better. Still not really a professional product in any general sense.

      How do you rate postgresql then? I'm curious.

      --

      "People who do stupid things with hazardous materials often die." -- Jim Davidson on alt.folklore.urban
    3. Re:no more RDBS? by haystor · · Score: 1

      That sounds like a shortcoming of the language. Languages are for manipulating data. Data does not exist so that you can have an easy time manipulating it in an inferior language (read JAVA).

      --
      t
    4. Re:no more RDBS? by tcopeland · · Score: 1

      We're using Postgres for GForge - this GForge installation has a 216 MB database. Not very big yet, but running smooth and serving up plenty of hits so far....

      Yours,

      Tom

    5. Re:no more RDBS? by cyberlotnet · · Score: 1

      216 MB, I manage a hmmm MySQL database currently at 650 MB
      and running smoothly.

    6. Re:no more RDBS? by tcopeland · · Score: 1

      Right you are, 210MB ain't much, and it's mostly base64 encoded PDF files and Powerpoint presentations and such, so the actual record count isn't very high. It's getting bigger fast though... nothing like a five year project for accumulating documents! :-)

      Yours,

      tom

    7. Re:no more RDBS? by micromoog · · Score: 1
      Learn this now: the purpose of a database is to store data in a mathematically sound, incorruptible fashion, not to match the flavor-of-the-day in application programming techniques. That's what interfaces are for.

      Ted Codd's only been dead a month and he's already rolling over in his grave.

      And learn how to freakin' spell.

    8. Re:no more RDBS? by nosferatu-man · · Score: 1

      We run a smallish (2.4gb on disk, ~90 tables, a couple of 40,000,000 rows) postgres instance (actually, three, with master/slave replication and select multiplexing), and it works great. We only see about 80 transactions a minute, though, so our needs aren't really that impressive.

      'jfb

      --
      To spur "enterprise Linux," Big Bang, the distributed two-phase commit.
    9. Re:no more RDBS? by tcopeland · · Score: 1

      Sweet. Nice setup.

      I'll post back here if mine gets over a couple GB... most of the space in it is consumed right here:

      http://cougaarforge.cougaar.org/docman/?group_id=1 6

      Lots of documentation....

      Yours,

      Tom

    10. Re:no more RDBS? by mackstann · · Score: 1

      Eh, I have a 85MB table. Not that it's anything heavy duty, just an apache access_log in database form, very fun for figuring out all kinds of neat statistics. Much more flexible, and much faster, than parsing a 98MB access_log. And this is only for my personal site, which is a little over a year old. 650MB? Bah. : )

    11. Re:no more RDBS? by etcshadow · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Where are my mod points when I need them... seriously. I am sick of hearing people say that RDBMSs are crap or whatever because they can't deal with the fact that DOING HARD STUFF IS HARD.

      In the development of a transactional processing system, once the volume of data becomes large and the needs for data integrity and manageability becomes overwhelming... you had soooo better be using a relational database. Object databases just aren't suited for the kind of work that is really important to the majority of applications (unless, at least, the object database is really just an access layer on top of a relational database).

      --
      :Wq
      Not an editor command: Wq
    12. Re:no more RDBS? by defile · · Score: 3, Interesting

      MySQL is pretty professional enough for us.

      We have MySQL managing a 30+GB dataset with InnoDB tables, receiving approximately 700 queries/second average.

      It's running on a dual P3-1.4GHz with 2GB of RAM on 36GB RAID-1 array. We're about to replace it with a dual P4-Xeon at 2.4Ghz, 3GB of RAM, and two 72GB RAID-5 volumes.

      It operates 24/365.

    13. Re:no more RDBS? by platypus · · Score: 1

      In the development of a transactional processing system, once the volume of data becomes large and the needs for data integrity and manageability becomes overwhelming... you had soooo better be using a relational database.

      This sounds like you are giving quality-of-implementation reasons for favoring relational models above entity-relationship models.

      I'd say that the relational model per se is better fitted for large data sets.
      As nice as the thought of looking at everything as objects is, it just isn't flexibel enough for reality IMO.

    14. Re:no more RDBS? by rycamor · · Score: 1

      I have not yet had occasion to use MySQL or PostgreSQL in a really large database, but after moving from MySQL to PostgreSQL a couple years ago, the main thing that struck me was how much logical power it gives you. On that front, PostgreSQL wins over just about anything except maybe Oracle or DB2. I mean, you can create your own datatypes and operators if you want; how cool is that?

      I think PostgreSQL is fairly robust for medium/large databases, though (depending on the kind of usage, of course), and they are focusing almost all of their development energy now on enterprise-level solutions.

      The only major issues I see are such things as lack of fine-grained exception handling in transactions, nested transactions, clustering (replication is already available, though), etc... But MySQL doesn't come close to having any of these either.

    15. Re:no more RDBS? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As for what you wrote, I have two words for you: learn to fucking type. Christ, that's just bullshit.

    16. Re:no more RDBS? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Same here, Mysql with innodb, 18 Gig database. One table has over 120 million rows.

      Since we switched to innodb, half year ago, we never had any problems. With myisam, yes: we had to repair the index on a regular basis.

    17. Re:no more RDBS? by Sxooter · · Score: 1

      FYI, there are many companies running gigabyte and terabyte size databases on postgresql in production.
      There's a link to some of them here
      600 Megs, how quaint.

      --

      --- It is not the things we do which we regret the most, but the things which we don't do.
  11. IBM should explain why crippled DB2 to cost $1000 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    and not be free.

  12. Benefits? by Anime_Fan · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I don't see how this would benefit SAP.

    Then again, at work I'm just a normal office worker, and don't get to see the inner periphelas of SAP - I'm just using it.

    This might be a good move, however, as SAP databases are (if I remember correctly) quite large. Two large corporations working together on one databse should benefit all of us - It sure beats competition database to database. In some time, we'll see how much impact such a cooperation will have on large-scale databases. Maybe complex operations in SAP will be faster at that time. We'll just have to wait and see.

    1. Re:Benefits? by jas79 · · Score: 1

      SAP is not a database company and they don't want to be one. So, they opensourced they code of there DB. That probally didn't work. so now they are outsourcing it to the compay behind the most populair opensource database.

    2. Re:Benefits? by WetCat · · Score: 1

      SAP does need RDBMS for their products anyway.
      By ensuring the presence of a good free database on a market, they are assuring that there will be enough people who want to learn/support/use it and be able to create infrastructure for their solutioncs. In this case SAP solutions overhead will be lower than in the case of SAP using Oracle DB for example.

    3. Re:Benefits? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't see how this would benefit SAP.

      SAP's problem is that (almost) no one is using SAP DB. PostgreSQL and especially MySQL may be inferior on a capability level, but they are better known. Ease of use is also an contributing factor though. Basically SAP gets MySQL's well-known brand name, and hopefully also its ease-of-use.

    4. Re:Benefits? by tundog · · Score: 1

      Some history on the SAP DB....

      SAP is developed on the typical 3-tier (which Hasso Platner former CEO claims to have invented along with the help of Al Gore).

      3 tier = DB, Application Server, Client

      SAP DB was developed to fill in the DB part of the three tier. Not because SAP wan't to sell it as a product, but because in a 3-tier you need a DB. As DB's progressed it was quickly out-paced by Oracle and got to be too much trouble to support additional development investment since it wasn't really a product to begin with and because most SAP clients were using Oracle DB anyway; hence SAP stopped development and made the code open source (more or less, I think some SAP guys still get paid by SAP to maintain the Open Source version).

      Anyway, SAP DB isn't so bad, afterall its been the basis for a lot of customer installations , but I have my doubts. Afterall SAP DB is coming from the same guys that brought you ABAP; the language syntax alone is abyssimal.

      --
      All your base are belong to us!
  13. Never heard of SAP... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    I was kind of hoping MySQL would partner with IBM or some other high-visibility company that could deploy it at the enterprise level... you know, do for MySQL what has been done for Linux. It's a nice project, and seems to be working out pretty well here on Slashdot, but outside of that I don't think anybody is really familiar with it, which is unfortunate because I've been able to do a lot with it (OTOH, everybody seems to have heard of IBM DB, Oracle, or Microsoft SQLServ).

    So, nice to see somebody else forming some kind of partnership where perhaps the companies can prop each other up marketing-wise, but doesn't seem like that big of a deal.

    1. Re:Never heard of SAP... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I love how people assume that because they haven't heard of something that nobody has. SAP is actually a pretty big name in business solutions, especially in accounting software. According to them they are "The largest inter-enterprise software company and the third-largest software supplier."

      Makes you seem kinda out of the loop, doesn't it?

    2. Re:Never heard of SAP... by stratjakt · · Score: 3, Flamebait

      Why would IBM hitch its wagon to MySQL?

      IBM has DB2, which is vastly superior to MySQL.

      MySQL has improved, but it really is still pretty crappy. No subselects, no triggers, and it doesnt even use real standard SQL.

      Its fine for most web applications, which are just simple table lookups, but for more complicated data management systems, it cant remotely cut it.

      Oracle, SQL Server and DB2 have a lock on the enterprise DMBS market, and for good reason. They are the best pieces of software in the field right now.

      There simply is no free enterprise class DBMS.

      It would be nice to see MySQL eventually evolve into one. I remember when it couldnt hold more than 2 million records per table, which wasnt too long ago. It still has a long ways to go, at least before I can consider it a replacement to what we use SQL Server for right now.

      --
      I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
    3. Re:Never heard of SAP... by ctve · · Score: 2, Insightful

      AFAIK It's a business package, although to describe it as "a business package" doesn't really do it justice. It's really something more akin to a business platform. It has a whole bunch of components for things that many businesses need, like purchasing, that sort of thing. It's also very programmable. My wife used to raise purchase orders on it. Is this a good thing? You betcha. MySQL is a good database, and this should help it grow - business perception will grow that this is a serious product.

    4. Re:Never heard of SAP... by afidel · · Score: 4, Interesting

      SAP is one of the biggest businesses in the world. Basically they are business consultants that re-form businesses into more effecient forms from a workflow perspective. They do this around a central core of business process modules that are interlinked and which are well suited for integrating with customers current systems. The core of the system is their database so this is a HUGE deal. btw why would IBM hook up with MySQL, they are already the worlds biggest database vendor, unlike their OS which actually costs considerably more to maintain then they make off of it DB2 is a large profit center. DB2 is available for basically every platform that could conceivably run it, from VMS, to S/390, Solaris, Linux, Windows, etc.

      --
      There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
    5. Re:Never heard of SAP... by jas79 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      everybody seems to have heard of IBM DB, Oracle, or Microsoft SQLServ

      Shouldn't that be everybody who knows about databases?
      SAP is one of the tree big players on the ERP,CRM,HRM(or whatever TLA they use now). I suspect that more users know that they use SAP than that they know which database there ERP program uses.

    6. Re:Never heard of SAP... by tjansen · · Score: 1

      It is a ERP system. Basically SAP software remodels every aspect of a business. Invoices and orders, logistics, inventory, human resources, everything can be stored in and managed by the ERP system. It is a huge piece of software, and also quite customizable so it fits every possible need. And, of course, there are specialized packages and consulting companies for virtually every industry.

    7. Re:Never heard of SAP... by j7953 · · Score: 1
      The core of the system is their database so this is a HUGE deal.

      Actually, the core of the system usually is someone else's database, most businesses run SAP on Oracle or DB2.

      --
      Sig (appended to the end of comments I post, 54 chars)
    8. Re:Never heard of SAP... by afidel · · Score: 1

      Very good point. Actually the ad on the back of eWeek says 76% of enterprises run SAP on Oracle. I guess the point is that SAP has a vested interest in having an enterprise strength DB to bring the cost of SAP installations down.

      --
      There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
    9. Re:Never heard of SAP... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      All of the world's top 10 chemical companies use SAP.
      9 of the world's 10 most profitable companies use SAP.
      7 of the world's top 10 Fortune 500 companies use SAP.
      7 of the world's top 10 petroleum companies use SAP.
      7 of the world's top 10 pharmaceutical companies use SAP.
      7 of the world's top 8 computer companies use SAP.

      and you've never heard of it?

  14. SAP setzt auf MySQL by rwiedower · · Score: 4, Funny

    Does this mean MySQL will now only accept SQL commands in german? That might increase the querytimes significantly....

    1. Re:SAP setzt auf MySQL by caluml · · Score: 3, Funny
      Hehe - English to German:
      * von der Tabelle IN DER somefield = "eine Last des Textes" UND des something_else > 4 VORWÄHLEN Sie;

      And back to English:
      * of the table IN somefield = "the load of the text" AND something_else > 4 PRESELECTING it;

    2. Re:SAP setzt auf MySQL by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      only if you don't speak German ;)

    3. Re:SAP setzt auf MySQL by haystor · · Score: 1

      Are there translations of SQL for anything? I'd just love to leave some of that laying around for whoever has to see my code after me.

      --
      t
    4. Re:SAP setzt auf MySQL by brer_rabbit · · Score: 1

      This blitzkrieg of SQL will end in an uber join.

    5. Re:SAP setzt auf MySQL by athakur999 · · Score: 0, Troll

      Would a query like this:

      SELECT * FROM users WHERE userid = 'ahitler';

      Cause the DB to crash, per Godwin's Law?

      --
      "People that quote themselves in their signatures bother me" - athakur999
    6. Re:SAP setzt auf MySQL by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      No no no; german is _THE_ language to use for commanding primitive things like databases! Words may be longer, true, but the commands so much more authoritative! And thus, I'd bet databases would not dare to waste as much time as they do now for processing things and other secondary things.

      Now if we were talking about japanese, with its highly intricate forms of polite addressing and indirect requests, that might be tough...

    7. Re:SAP setzt auf MySQL by tundog · · Score: 2, Funny

      You joke about this, but have you ever tried to debug an SAP R/3 program? The comments aren't so bad, some of 'em you can even translate, but it's the variable names that are a bitch. Theey're not even words, they're 12-letter abbreviations for words like Gegengewichtsgabelstapler [fork lift].

      --
      All your base are belong to us!
    8. Re:SAP setzt auf MySQL by absolut_kurant · · Score: 1

      Actually, in the German versions of certain Microsoft Produkts (Access, Excel) VBA keywords have been translated into German! Looks really strange ;)

      --
      Yes.
  15. What is holding SAP-DB back? by jdh-22 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Glad to see such a movement between the two companies. Older ./ story here
    http://developers.slashdot.org/developers/02/08/02 /1830245.shtml?tid=99

    --
    Every Super Villan uses Linux.
  16. Didn't Microsoft... by Inverarity · · Score: 2, Insightful

    ...use SAP's db at their corporate site? If Microsoft still does, I can't imagine that this would help the relationship.

    1. Re:Didn't Microsoft... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They don't use the database but they do (or at least did) use some of their other enterprise software. SAP is far more than just a database. Actually the database is more of an afterthought which is probably why they are dumping it on MySQL.

    2. Re:Didn't Microsoft... by ctve · · Score: 1

      Perhaps they are getting something from SCO?

    3. Re:Didn't Microsoft... by Christopher+B.+Brown · · Score: 1
      No, Microsoft uses SAP's Enterprise Resource Planning software for things like financial accounting. Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable, General Ledger, Sales Management, that sort of thing. (In SAP nomenclature, FI/CO, SD, possibly MM, ...)

      The main software that SAP sells is the set of applications that use a database (in Microsoft's case, a code fork of Sybase SQL Server). The DBMS is the smallest part of the code that is running...

      --
      If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.
    4. Re:Didn't Microsoft... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why? If MS use SAP they probably run it on top of MS SQL, or maybe Oracle. The bundled database (which is what SAP appears to want from this partnership) is mostly irrelevant; most SAP installations run on Oracle.

    5. Re:Didn't Microsoft... by Christopher+B.+Brown · · Score: 2, Interesting
      The MSFT deployment of R/3 was actually quite interesting back when it was the "big news" of 1996. I actually got email from a recruiter at MSFT when they were looking for people. (I was a little stunned at the time by that...)

      At any rate, the "platform politicking" was a big deal. That was the same year when MSFT was heavily marketing that Windows NT was an excellent platform for running R/3. At that point, on Oracle, because it wasn't 'til about '97 or '98 that Microsoft's version of Sybase became supported.

      The richly entertaining part was that Microsoft wasn't "eating their own dogfood," even though they were promoting it, heavily. It would have been a marketing disaster had they run their system on Unix + Oracle, so they sidestepped it by initially going with IBM AS/400 + DB/2. And then invested heavily in the systems integration projects to get R/3 to run on Windows NT + MS SQL Server.

      If you search the web, you'll have a HARD time finding any evidence of the AS/400 installation; that's the sort of information that Microsoft's "Winston Smiths" would be expected to work overtime to expunge from public record...

      --
      If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.
    6. Re:Didn't Microsoft... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      that Microsoft's "Winston Smiths" would be expected to work overtime to expunge from public record...

      nice 1984 ref. I wouldn't have caught it had I not been re-reading the book at the moment.

    7. Re:Didn't Microsoft... by Christopher+B.+Brown · · Score: 1
      I had to look up his name, as I didn't recall it offhand :-).

      The point is, nonetheless, serious, if a little bit off topic. This story (Microsoft using R/3 on OS/400) is exactly the sort of thing that it is convenient for Microsoft to see disappear from the web.

      University students that leap into a world where they think all research can be done on the Web have some Serious Risks in that not only can't you guarantee that things written are necessarily the truth, but you also can't guarantee that they will remain available as knowledge.

      Paper records can't get rm -rf /* ed out of existence; since they have to get distributed to each site they are accessed at, it is much tougher to expunge them than data that might sit only on one server. A US law might mandate burning all copies of "Journal of Foo, Volume 27, Issue 3," but that won't forcibly affect copies in other countries...

      --
      If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.
    8. Re:Didn't Microsoft... by yomegaman · · Score: 1

      Why, exactly, would the (in)ability of NT 4.0 to run R/3 in 1996 be relevant to anyone today?

      --
      ...wearing a skin-tight topless leather jumpsuit, with cutaway buttocks and transparent crotch panel.
  17. Re:IBM should explain why crippled DB2 to cost $10 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Isn't DB2 already crippled?

  18. welcome translation, liking this am I by Linux_ho · · Score: 3, Funny

    Goods are I, for on, delights to see this. Collaboration between information technology firms is always reception. Ears love I pieces of less important by approximately large firms as well as SAP releasing its intellectual property to the open source partnership.

    --
    include $sig;
    1;
    1. Re:welcome translation, liking this am I by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I breathed a big sigh of relief when all-knowing Google translated that german article. Into gibberspeak. I've read legal documents that made a lot more sense.

  19. MYSql is ok. But what about Firebird(phoenix) by zymano · · Score: 0, Offtopic
    Firebird is also smaller download

    more info here firebird,phoenix

    Getting real sick of certain media and companies pushing products.

    Firebird is never mentioned but i hear it's good.

  20. Features? by m0rph3us0 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I didnt know the loosing the ability to have foriegn keys and the ability to easily define functions and data types was an improvement. Why would anyone want to move from a database to a suped up version of Excel.

    1. Re:Features? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That would be "losing" and not "loosing". Do you "loose" a game of Monopoly? No, you "lose" a game of Monopoly. Looser... ;)

    2. Re:Features? by axxackall · · Score: 1

      Give American English to evolve 5 more years and all loosers will loose their color. Or colour?

      --

      Less is more !
    3. Re:Features? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      I didnt know the loosing the ability to have foriegn keys

      Maybe you would prefer the tightening of the ability to have foreign keys? I'm sure all these loose keys lying around aren't too helpful.

  21. A theory on why they've done this... by coupland · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This may be a low-cost gamble, considering SAP-DB is technically quite good but not very popular. MySQL still lacks a lot technically, but it sure has a big hacker following. SAP no doubt wants a piece of the enterprise DB pie and maybe they see Linux and Apache's success and think, "hell it costs peanuts to support the MySQL team and even though it's a long shot there's a slim chance we could start another revolution." Obviously this is pure conjecture but not an unreasonable explanation for what several people seem to be calling a strange move.

    1. Re:A theory on why they've done this... by Khalid · · Score: 1

      Yes SAP is really entreprise class RDBS, it has even an Oracle 7 emulation feature.

    2. Re:A theory on why they've done this... by Troll_Kamikaze · · Score: 2, Informative

      SAP no doubt wants a piece of the enterprise DB pie...

      They've been at pains to claim otherwise. According to material on the SAPDB web site, they *are not* interested in selling a relational database system. Rather, they want an enterprise-class, royalty-free database they can use as the basis for their core apps.

      SAPDB is trying to popularize its main applications (ERP, CRM) in smaller businesses than those in which they have traditionally been popular. Microsoft is just now entering this same space; SAP will never be able to compete with Microsoft in the small(ish) business market if the price of SAP's software must include an expensive relational database license.

      Here's a quote from the whitepaper.

      A significant motivation for the Open Source initiative is the price structure for database licenses. This affects not only SAP, but every provider of database-based solutions that must procure database licenses in order to sell them on as part of their own solution, therefore imposing costs on the end licensee. SAP AG hopes to enliven the market through the Open Source initiative and to encourage users to critically examine the high-price policies of the market-leading database providers.
    3. Re:A theory on why they've done this... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      SAP-DB is technically quite good but not very popular...

      SAP no doubt wants a piece of the enterprise DB pie...

      All of the world's top 10 chemical companies use SAP.
      9 of the world's 10 most profitable companies use SAP.
      7 of the world's top 10 Fortune 500 companies use SAP.
      7 of the world's top 10 petroleum companies use SAP.
      7 of the world's top 10 pharmaceutical companies use SAP.
      7 of the world's top 8 computer companies use SAP.

      Someone mod the above post WAY down!

    4. Re:A theory on why they've done this... by mjpolanco · · Score: 1

      Strange move? Both Oracle and Microsoft, probably the most popular db engines for deploying SAP are now competing with them at the application level. As others have said, MySQL contributes the recognition and SAP the enterprise-level knowledge. CODE INTEGRATION IS NOT AN ISSUE. Let us assume they just put a MySQL face on SAP-DB...whatever. The key from SAP's point of view is that they are liberated from sending $$$ to MSFT and ORCL.

  22. Re:SAP? - resume by mikewhittaker · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Plus, if you've got anything with "SAP" on your CV/resume, you can get a higher-paid job.

    One of my colleagues has this theory that packages with (very) high entry costs - such as SAP - attract higher pay for experience than those with low/zero entry cost - such as most open source stuff and MySQL, which anyone and their dog can download for free & run on a $100 Linux box.

  23. But does SAP have a cute logo like by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny
  24. Kind of, but there's a lock-in there, too by msouth · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It's true that you can make good money doing something like SAP, but you sort of have to sell your soul to it. I did it for about a year and a half, I was very good at it, etc, etc, but it was really boring. Right now I would like a job in anything, even something boring :). But since I have been out of the market for a while, I am unlikely to be able to get an SAP job. They want to know what the latest implementation job you were on was, stuff like that. They will ask for experience with a specific version, for example.

    So basically, if you want to work in it, you have to keep working in it. That is somewhat true in other fields, but I think stuff like SAP is exceptional that way--very closed. Hard to get into, and hard to get back into if you've been out.

    Mind you this is not because you can't just jump in and pick right back up--you can. but there's a whole mentality surrounding all the work that says "sorry, you can't come back in". So something along those lines.

    --
    Liberty uber alles.
    1. Re:Kind of, but there's a lock-in there, too by sapped · · Score: 1

      Mind you this is not because you can't just jump in and pick right back up--you can. but there's a whole mentality surrounding all the work that says "sorry, you can't come back in". So something along those lines.

      As somebody who has been working in the SAP field for the last 5 years, all I can say is AMEN!

      It is a really tough field to break into because of this mindset problem. (See my ID.)

      I have recently moved into the CRM module and have found this work very stimulating. All this while making fairly decent money as well. Let's hope this trend continues!

  25. oh no! by bgs4 · · Score: 2, Funny

    SAP is turning the nose!

    we're all doomed.

  26. Uh oh... by zulux · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I hope MySQL doesen't change too much...

    It a easy to use, psudo-database thats really fast.

    It's not a real database - but it's two strength (ease and speed) make it ideal for many projects.

    I love PostgreSQL for all sorts of real database reasons, but for some tasks MySQL is superior (like PHP websites).

    --

    Moneyed corporations, non-working 'poor' and criminal prisoners are turning productive citizens into tax-slaves.

    1. Re:Uh oh... by axxackall · · Score: 1
      for some tasks MySQL is superior (like PHP websites).

      and like Visual Basic. All three are superior for tasks , which assigned programmers who doesn't know (or even worse: is not capable to know) anything else.

      Typical dialog with PHP programmer: "Why do you use PHP?" - "It's fast to develop comparing to C!" - "Have you tried Zope or Cocoon or Axkit?" - "No, but why? PHP is already fast." - "Have you tried to develop and *debug* complex web applications?" - "No, PHP is good for single pages and that's what I am doing."

      Typical dialog with MySQL programmer: "Why do you use MySQL?" - "It's fast to develop comparing to BerkleyDB!" - "Have you tried PostgreSQL or Firebird?" - "No, but why? MySQL is already fast." - "Have you tried to develop and *debug* complex databases?" - "No, MySQL is good for single tables and that's what I am doing."

      No need to go to VB - the point is clear I hope.

      --

      Less is more !
    2. Re:Uh oh... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Uhm, OK, and the point was? That PHP and MySQL are perfect for small database driven web sites?

  27. References to Non-Free Software and Documentation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful



    References to Non-Free Software and Documentation

    A GNU program should not recommend use of any non-free program. We can't stop some people from writing proprietary programs, or stop other people from using them, but we can and should refuse to advertise them to new potential customers. Proprietary software is a social and ethical problem, and the point of GNU is to solve that problem.

    The GNU definition of free software is found in http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html, with a list of important licenses and whether they qualify as free in http://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html. The terms "free" and "non-free", used in this document, refer to that definition. If it is not clear whether a license qualifies as free under this definition, please ask the GNU Project by writing to licensing@gnu.org. We will answer, and if the license is an important one, we will add it to the list.

    When a non-free program or system is well known, you can mention it in passing--that is harmless, since users who might want to use it probably already know about it. For instance, it is fine to explain how to build your package on top of some widely used non-free operating system, or how to use it together with some widely used non-free program.

    However, you should give only the necessary information to help those who already use the non-free program to use your program with it--don't give, or refer to, any further information about the proprietary program, and don't imply that the proprietary program enhances your program, or that its existence is in any way a good thing. The goal should be that people already using the proprietary program will get the advice they need about how to use your free program with it, while people who don't already use the proprietary program will not see anything to lead them to take an interest in it.

    If a non-free program or system is obscure in your program's domain, your program should not mention or support it at all, since doing so would tend to popularize the non-free program more than it popularizes your program. (You cannot hope to find many additional users among the users of Foobar if the users of Foobar are few.)

    Sometimes a program is free software in itself but depends on a non-free platform in order to run. For instance, many Java programs depend on Sun's Java implementation, and won't run on the GNU Java Compiler (which does not yet have all the features) or won't run with the GNU Java libraries. To recommend that program is inherently to recommend the non-free platform as well; if you should not do the latter, then don't do the former.

    A GNU package should not refer the user to any non-free documentation for free software. Free documentation that can be included in free operating systems is essential for completing the GNU system, or any free operating system, so it is a major focus of the GNU Project; to recommend use of documentation that we are not allowed to use in GNU would weaken the impetus for the community to produce documentation that we can include. So GNU packages should never recommend non-free documentation.

    By contrast, it is ok to refer to journal articles and textbooks in the comments of a program for explanation of how it functions, even though they be non-free. This is because we don't include such things in the GNU system even if we are allowed to--they are outside the scope of an operating system project.

    Referring to a web site that describes or recommends a non-free program is in effect promoting that software, so please do not make links (or mention by name) web sites that contain such material. This policy is relevant particulary for the web pages for a GNU package.

    Following links from nearly any web site can lead to non-free software; this is an inescapable aspect of the nature of the web, and in itself is no objection to linking to a site. As long as the site does not itself recommend a non-free program, there is no need be concerned about the sites it links to for other r

  28. On the topic of databases by I_Heat_Sexylaid · · Score: 0

    Since I wouldn't get an Ask Slashdot...
    Are there any Win32 databases that can be used in place of MS Access?
    I'm looking for a single-file application that is fairly SQL-92 compliant.
    Doing small web-enabled db projects, you quickly locate the limits of the Jet4.0 provider...
    Sure, Cygwin/PostgreSQL/ODBC, but it would be nice to have a little less installation overhead...

    --
    Slashlight! (Can't find the funk) kewl base part
    1. Re:On the topic of databases by kiddailey · · Score: 1

      I'm sure there are, but won't you still end up needing to use the Jet driver or some equivalent via ODBC/OLEDB if you're not running a DBMS?

      That is, unless you just go with storing stuff in POT (plain ole text) with standard read/writes - which has its own limitations.

      It depends on the project to be sure, but MySQL is well worth the installation overhead IMO.

    2. Re:On the topic of databases by johndavid · · Score: 1

      FileMaker Pro.

    3. Re:On the topic of databases by Anonymous+Coed · · Score: 1
      My company uses Microsoft's MSDE. It's basically got most of the core features of SQL Server 2000, and it's free. However, it can be a pig (20mb download) and a bitch to install. In general, though, it does the job. We ship Postgresql on our other platforms.

      See my other post here.

  29. As an aside... by Ayanami+Rei · · Score: 1

    forget the fact that michael posted the article. It's rather an important thing to know considering how many slashdotters are responsible for one LAMP or another. MySQL being the 'M' in LAMP, you have to ask yourself: is MySQL going to kick ass through this partnership or what?

    But I did like how you transformed the BSD troll (if that really is your doing), very original if so, and quite entertaining none-the-less. Still, I think this wasn't the right article to post it under.

    --
    THIS THING CAN TURN ON A DIME, MACROSSZERO STYLE ALSO FUCK BETA, ~NYORON
    1. Re:As an aside... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      right, mysql is going to kick some ass thru this partnership.

      Do you have any idea how much a typical SAP implementation costs? I'd bet the median price is $10 million dollars. In an implementation of that size you could probably trim 1% by shifting from DB2 to mysql. Nobody worth their salt would recommend such a rediculous move.

      By the time they get SAP running reliably on mysql it will be four years down the road and the product will be completely reengineered.

      In the meanwhile, I suppose there's some marketing benefit to being able to say "we'll be good enough to run financials off - some day".

  30. MySQL is a non-free product AND a free product by Sxooter · · Score: 4, Interesting

    So how should we refer to it?

    funny thing is, they FUD the GPL on their own site, basically saying that if you write a commercial app that uses MySQL you HAVE to buy the commercial version.

    Last I checked, trying to limit the scope of use of software covered by the GPL was in fact a violation of the GPL.

    but MySQL is a favored child, so the FSF says nothing.

    --

    --- It is not the things we do which we regret the most, but the things which we don't do.
    1. Re:MySQL is a non-free product AND a free product by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful


      funny thing is, they FUD the GPL on their own site, basically saying that if you write a commercial app that uses MySQL you HAVE to buy the commercial version.


      The statement that you bump into the most:

      You need to purchase commercial non-GPL MySQL licenses:

      * If you distribute MySQL Software with your non open source software,
      * If you want warranty from MySQL AB for the MySQL software,
      * If you want to support MySQL development.

      is both reasonable and accurate. Are you talking about some other statement on the site?

    2. Re:MySQL is a non-free product AND a free product by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This line is neither reasonable nor accurate:

      * If you distribute MySQL Software with your non open source software

      MySQL AB tries to make it out that by distributing copies of MySQL alongside your own, closed-source program that you are in effect incorporating MySQL into your program. Thus you would have to either GPL your program, or purchase MySQL for distribution under a different license. By this reasoning, almost all Linux-based appliance vendors would be in violation of the GPL. We're talking Cobalt, Exim, etc., because all ship their software (basically a collection of management scripts) along with the GPL programs that are required to act as a backend for the scripts.

      To suggest that such loosely affiliated programs as a set of interpreted web scripts and a compiled database are incorporated into a single program, and that *that* program is what they distribute, is just ridiculous. If my program depends on grep, do I have to GPL it? The GPL FAQ's makes it clear that two distinct programs, even if necessary to one another, do not constitute a single system with regard to the GPL. The relevant portion is:

      "If the modules are included in the same executable file, they are definitely combined in one program. If modules are designed to run linked together in a shared address space, that almost surely means combining them into one program.

      "By contrast, pipes, sockets and command-line arguments are communication mechanisms normally used between two separate programs. So when they are used for communication, the modules normally are separate programs. But if the semantics of the communication are intimate enough, exchanging complex internal data structures, that too could be a basis to consider the two parts as combined into a larger program."

      With regards to a database, the last line might give pause. But think about it: are the two *programs* really exchanging complex *internal* data structures? How is my complex database structure *internal* to MySQL? It's not. MySQL runs just fine without my table files. If it's sitting there not doing anything, do we call it broken? No, it just doesn't have any data to serve. And do we call my app broken if it's just sitting there? No, it just doesn't have any data to work with. But my application is complete regardless of the presence of the database. The programs are being intertwined in no way. They each do completely separate things. Another relevant FAQ states:

      "However, in many cases you can distribute the GPL-covered software alongside your proprietary system. To do this validly, you must make sure that the free and non-free programs communicate at arms length, that they are not combined in a way that would make them effectively a single program.

      "The difference between this and "incorporating" the GPL-covered software is partly a matter of substance and partly form. The substantive part is this: if the two programs are combined so that they become effectively two parts of one program, then you can't treat them as two separate programs. So the GPL has to cover the whole thing.

      "If the two programs remain well separated, like the compiler and the kernel, or like an editor and a shell, then you can treat them as two separate programs--but you have to do it properly. The issue is simply one of form: how you describe what you are doing. Why do we care about this? Because we want to make sure the users clearly understand the free status of the GPL-covered software in the collection.

      "If people were to distribute GPL-covered software calling it "part of" a system that users know is partly proprietary, users might be uncertain of their rights regarding the GPL-covered software. But if they know that what they have received is a free program plus another program, side by side, their rights will be clear."

      It is hard to imagine a more arms-length method of communication than SQL, especially if it's sent across the planet to a remote MySQL server. Not only is it highly abstracted from what MySQL

    3. Re:MySQL is a non-free product AND a free product by catenos · · Score: 1

      IMHO, you are missing the point. E.g.:

      [...] But think about it: are the two *programs* really exchanging complex *internal* data structures? How is my complex database structure *internal* to MySQL? It's not. MySQL runs just fine without my table files.
      [...]
      It is hard to imagine a more arms-length method of communication than SQL, especially if it's sent across the planet to a remote MySQL server. [...]


      You seem to focus on the client/server part or whatever. But the client library, which you do link into your program, is also GPL'ed - since version 4.0.x, which is the current stable version, so this would be what the web site is about.

      PS: They do mention at several places that older version have different licensing.

      PPS: Yes, I know about the idea that maybe using ODBC can work around that linking-the-library-limitation. But I wouldn't bet my money on it.

      --
      Keep an eye on which arguments are silently dropped in replies. Not always, but often times it's very telling.
    4. Re:MySQL is a non-free product AND a free product by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You are correct about the new client library - I didn't know that. Of course, most of the world is still using the 3.x series. Also, MySQL AB has done a terrible job of explaining this on their website. The 'older license' they mention is the license previous to the 3.22 release, after which they switched to the GPL/LGPL that 3.23 uses. They seem to have eradicated all easily-reached mentions of the LGPL releases, even though they are the most widely used (and are still officially supported!). They only talk about the current full GPL release and the ancient pre-3.22 license.

      Furthermore, MySQL AB has been claiming this need for commercial licensing for quite some time, certainly long before 4.x went stable, which was only a matter of months ago. There are threads around the 'Net - some from MySQL AB employees - to the effect that they do not believe this 'need to license' depends upon the client libraries at all.

      Don't know about ODBC... I'm not a windows guy. But yeah, with the new client library GPL'd there seems to be no good way around it. I would be suspicious too.

      I am disappointed in MySQL AB for making this change, although it is at least good that their claims about the license will finally be in synch with the license itself. I honestly wish MySQL the best, but I don't have time to waste on licensing hassles. I'm going to be looking at Postgres in the future. Anyway, thanks for the post. It was informative.

    5. Re:MySQL is a non-free product AND a free product by Sxooter · · Score: 1

      I wonder if someone could do a clean room implementation of the MySQL client / connection lib. Then it wouldn't be an issue.

      I wouldn't mind the pure GPL play if it wasn't to extort more money out of companies using MySQL in an otherwise acceptable way but being stuck by this licensing of their client.

      Postgresql's pure BSD license is preferable for most companies, and many do pick it over MySQL for that very reason.

      --

      --- It is not the things we do which we regret the most, but the things which we don't do.
    6. Re:MySQL is a non-free product AND a free product by wilhelm9 · · Score: 1


      You seem to focus on the client/server part or whatever. But the client library, which you do link into your program, is also GPL'ed - since version 4.0.x, which is the current stable version, so this would be what the web site is about.


      The really interesting thing about MySQL and GPL is that they are _forced_ to purchase the rights from anyone making a client driver for the MySQL server. And, they have already done so on at least one occasion (the JDBC driver).

      As far as I can see, anyone making a popular client driver under BSD or LGPL will be a direct threat to MySQL revenue.

  31. Uhhhh by FreeLinux · · Score: 1

    You mean something like MySQL?
    http://www.mysql.com/downloads/mysql-4.0.h tml

    Or do you mean like MS SQL?

    1. Re:Uhhhh by I_Heat_Sexylaid · · Score: 1

      No, something to handle queries without running a server.

      --
      Slashlight! (Can't find the funk) kewl base part
    2. Re:Uhhhh by gregfortune · · Score: 1

      So you mean like this... Embedded MySQL

    3. Re:Uhhhh by Troll_Kamikaze · · Score: 1

      How about embedded Firebird? (firebirdsql.org)

  32. Reminds me of another system.... by pjdepasq · · Score: 4, Funny
    I don't usually post this kind of stuff, but thinking that mySAP would be a good name for a new server made me think of this old Internet email I've been saving:
    Manufacturing Information Access Software System (MIASS)

    This memo is to announce the development of a new plant-wide software system. We are currently building a data warehouse that will contain all plant manufacturing data. The program is referred to as the "Manufacturing Information Access Software System" (MIASS).

    Next Monday at 9:00 there will be a meeting in which I will show MIASS. We will continue to hold demonstrations throughout the month so that all employees will have an opportunity to get a good look at MIASS. As for the status of the implementation of the program, I have not addressed the networking aspects so currently only one person can be in MIASS at a time. This should change as MIASS expands.

    Several people are using the program already and have come to depend on it. Just this morning I walked into a subordinate's office and was not surprised to find that he had his nose buried in MIASS. I've noticed that some of the less technical personnel are somewhat afraid of MIASS. Just last week, when asked to enter some information into the program, I had a secretary say to me "I'm a little nervous, I've never put anything in MIASS before." I volunteered to help her through her first time and when we were through she admitted that it was relatively painless and she was actually looking forward to doing it again. She went so far as to say that after using SAP and Oracle, she was ready to kiss MIASS.

    I know there are concerns over the virus that was found in MIASS upon initial installation, but I am pleased to say the virus has been eliminated and we were able to save MIASS. In the future, however, protection will be required prior to entering MIASS.

    We planned this database to encompass all information associated with the business. So as you begin using the program, feel free to put anything you want into MIASS. As MIASS grows larger, we envision a time when it will be commonplace to walk by an office and see a manager hand a paper to an employee and say "Here, stick this in MIASS".

    This program has already demonstrated great benefit to the company during recent OSHA and EPA audits. After requesting certain historical data the agency representatives were amazed at how quickly we provided the information. When asked how the numbers could be retrieved so rapidly our Environmental Manager proudly stated "Simple, I just pulled them out of MIASS".

    1. Re:Reminds me of another system.... by micromoog · · Score: 2, Informative
      ...thinking that mySAP would be a good name for a new server...

      Brilliant.

  33. Re:SAP? - resume by Khalid · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Indeed it's very difficult to become a SAP consultant. What you say is not a theory but a basic economic law. The more a market is difficult enter, the more you can keep your prices high. A market with low entry barriers becomes quickly a commodity market and prices are droved towards production costs. This is why MS and the like intentionally introduces artificial barriers into their Markets, one of the most famous example is Word data format.

  34. Timeframe by j7953 · · Score: 1

    I think both companies are well aware of the potential problems. The article talks about a timeframe of several years, so don't expect anything to be released within a few months.

    --
    Sig (appended to the end of comments I post, 54 chars)
  35. Then MySQL should reclassify itself. by Ayanami+Rei · · Score: 2, Insightful

    There should be different classes of DBs for different purposes. You have Sleepy Cat's BerkelyDB which, from a RDBMS standpoint, is incredibly crippled, yet is uber-fast, requires little resources, and is iron-clad.

    You have MySQL which is like BerkeleyDB but with more sugar, with a network-centric view, and meta-data. But it does not skimp on speed for features or safety.

    I don't know if Microsoft Access is in the first class or second, I'd have to say first.

    Then you have the true RDBMS, MSSQL, Oracle, DB2, and Postgres.
    There is another class, object oriented databases (Versant, Intersystems Cache, ozone).

    MySQL should revel in the fact that it is NOT a true RDBMS and often that isn't needed for many applications that are forced onto RDBMSs unnecessarily. A partner ship with SAP will not help, and I think it may raise the bar of expectations to high for MySQL. I just hope it's as fast and easy to deploy in the end.

    --
    THIS THING CAN TURN ON A DIME, MACROSSZERO STYLE ALSO FUCK BETA, ~NYORON
    1. Re:Then MySQL should reclassify itself. by afidel · · Score: 1

      Actually Access is in the craptacular catagory, it isn't fast, it isn't scalable, and it corrupts data more frequantly then any other program I've run into bar perhaps Outlook. If you need something smaller than SQL but a whole lot better than Access and you insist on an MS product then use the dektop data engine, at least it's based on solid code. As far as this partnership goes I think that the long term outlook for the MySQL folks is an easy to setup and administer RDBMS system with a variety of backends with various capabilities, from the basic almost flatfile like tables of the early and speedy editions, to the newer InnoDB , and probably eventually an Oracle like mode using the core from SAP-DB. Sounds like a great idea because now you can optimize things to your needs and scale as your needs grow without losing the experience from your previous system.

      --
      There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
  36. mysql is overkill for SAP by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    To those that say mysql isn't ready for financials, let them be reminded that twenty years ago most financials were run off flat files, and forty years ago they were run off paper by giant departments of clerks.

    So mysql lacks half-way decent support for transactions? So did cobol & isam files in 1972. So us mysql programmers can't even spell tranaction, it isn't necessary for 99% of the applications out there anyhow.

    To the naysayers I says, mysql is overkill.

    1. Re:mysql is overkill for SAP by buckinm · · Score: 1

      Right. But when those financials were running off of flat files on the mainframes, it was in batch-mode. You don't have to worry about transactions when you only have one thread hitting the database at a time.

      --
      This isn't any ordinary darkness. It's advanced darkness.
  37. Good for MySQL AB by Ayanami+Rei · · Score: 1

    not SAP.
    The lot of slashdot could care less about them (myself included).

    Perhaps it's a dumb move on SAP's part. Or maybe they know something we don't.
    Whatever, it means more money. Hurrah.

    --
    THIS THING CAN TURN ON A DIME, MACROSSZERO STYLE ALSO FUCK BETA, ~NYORON
  38. MySQL by blogeasy · · Score: 1

    MySQL is a great database for smaller enterprise projects. Easy install and good pricing model.

    --

    Browse the Information Directory
    1. Re:MySQL by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      and the best part is that you don't have to learn how to manage transactions or even bother learning standard sql - since we all know that 99% of the world doesn't need that stuff anyway.

    2. Re:MySQL by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      as long as you define 'enterprise' as single-user.

  39. Re:SAP and MySQL - Article by C J Date by mikewhittaker · · Score: 1
    Quote from long article by Date:

    SQL was indeed originally called SEQUEL; the name was an acronym for Structured English (not "English-like") Query Language. The name was subsequently changed for legal reasons.

    I presume that the "legal reasons" might have been unhappy if they'd changed the spelling but kept the pronunciation !

    A quotation from my (old!) 2nd edition of Date's An Introduction to Database Systems Chapter 7, The Data Sublanguage SEQUEL

    The original version of SEQUEL ... was based on an earlier language called SQUARE ...

    This book also contains some comments on QUEL, a query sublanguage based on relational calculus.

  40. Revenge by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Um... There's a reason SAP is called "Hitler's Revenge", you know. Around 30% of all SAP projects are put in the waste basket...

    1. Re:Revenge by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Good quote, just read that usually 70% of all
      bigger software projects end in the waste

  41. Google Translation by pruneau · · Score: 4, Funny
    ...or "Easy acces to the surreal for dummies"

    My two favorite:

    The chess move fits well into the Walldorfer concept to reduce the commercial meaning from data base servers to. SAP turns the nose, data bases actually the all world commodity became already longer and no cause, users enormous license costs abzuverlangen.
    Just in the mood of wasting bandwidth.
    --
    [Pruneau /\o^O/\ warranty void if this .sig is removed]
  42. Ugly move, if true--current users had no warning by Monkius · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The SAP people have been utterly silent on the SAPDB list.

    I guess that tends to confirm this story, though for myself (and this is the view expressed by everyone who's commented on the SAPDB list) I can't see how this works technically. The two systems are virtually nothing alike, for all they both speak SQL.

    Worse, if true, this is far from the right way to treat the user community that has grown up around SAPDB. In that they found out about this in the Heise story--just like Slashdot.

    Not nice.

    For the past 2 years, it's seemed like there was a slow process of opening-up on the SAPDB list. The internal SAP developers finally this year provided external CVS access, and although they still seemed to value the fact that the code was difficult for non-SAP people to understand and work on--riddled with strange interfaces like COM migrated to Unix sans comments, and intentionally undocumented areas--I got the sense that things were improving.

    For all the above, SAPDB as a project felt (perhaps due to its status as the less-known, more featureful GPL'd dbms) like a community resource that _came from_ a company, rather than like the property of a company you can download for free, which is how I've always seen mysql.

    I still can't figure out what to feel about the vaporware merger of the systems, with development done by (yikes!) the Mysql folks, who a few years ago said we had no nead for transactions...

    --
    Matt
  43. Re:SAP? - exclusivity by mikewhittaker · · Score: 1

    The point is that the SAP organisation seems to have a vested interest in maintaining its air of exclusivity, every bit as much as the consultants have an interest in maintaining their salary rates.

    It can appeal to its clients' snobbery, and position itself as some kind of privileged club.

    Of course, once the clients are "in", they too have an interest in keeping the exclusivity, to justify costs.

    I'm not saying it's a bad product (I wouldn't know - I've never been anywhere near it due to aforementioned barriers ;-)

  44. I hope that the by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    low-end version of DB2 comes with a low end version of Control Center.

  45. Re:Damn Nazis by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Did'nt you know that SAP means 'Software aus Polen' which translates into 'Software from Polant'?

    *silly slap*

  46. Platform Agnostic by simon_aus · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Most seem to be missing the point here. SAP is pretty committed to being platform agnostic and standards compliant. The main R/3 ERP runs on NT, AIX, HP-UX, OS390, Solaris, Linux etc and databases such as SQL server, DB2, Oracle, Informix and SAPDB

    SAP sells to the users management, not the IT department, and have you tried to dictate to them what platform to run? Especially a big corporate data centre with mainframes etc.

    If you ask SAP for a recommended platform for a component, they'll tell you to use one of the supported platforms and not a specific vendor. That's how they maintain the relationships with all vendors like MS, IBM and Oracle.

    SAP has been making a concerted effort to support linux (well Red Hat) for about five years and almost all components are supported, I only know of one in beta and not supported for productive use. If there is demand to run on linux, then they will meet that demand. The last thing they want is to be only MS or IBM, cutting off potential sales and the associated TCO issues affecting the product's sales viability.

    This becomes especially important as they approach market saturation in the Fortune 1000 space and look towards SME's.

    This could represent a big opportunity to the open source community as SAP spends serious $$$ on platform support and R&D (not games consoles and Bluetooth Keyboards). SAP support of an Open Source database WILL give the platform some serious datacentre cred.

    --
    Stopping myself...Abort (core dumped)
    1. Re:Platform Agnostic by Monkius · · Score: 1

      Huh? This is indeed the rationale for releasing SAPDB under the GPL. But it's not new. SAPDB was open-sourced in 2000.

      --
      Matt
  47. More to a marketting move than anything. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    MySQL and SAP join forces (...) trying to turn MySQL into a real database and SAPDB into a modern application. Maybe in two-three years we'll see MySQL and SAP releasing a software that does what PostgreSQL and Interbase already features today, and have been for several years.

  48. Ugly move by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Also noticed that silence of the SAP people on the list (some annoyed users indeed filled the silence
    with some noise ...).

    Having been in a big company and seen similar events perhaps this is a corporate communication thing - software developers are usually not the people that do the communication stuff ... so perhaps these people are just as 'impressed' as
    the community, but cannot show that.

    Anyway, indeed it is a bad move. These two products have not much in common, except that they speak some kind of SQL.

    It's also true that the source and the build process SAP DB have is a hassle, compared with usual Open Source standard automake/autoconf. But, how many *users* would actually want build such a beast (was about 100MB source code, as I remember)? (And which of these users would *guarantee* to his boss that he oversees all things that might been wrong when building just because a wrong compiler patch level or a similar nasty thing ...) That 'build from source' looks nice in theory, and a well autoconfiscated package makes the impression that some real magic is going on. But there is no magic, just a little bit 'automagic'.

    So, there are better things to be proud of than of 'ey it compiles on all known bitty boxes'. For a database product, things like raw devices, online backup, being reorganisation free, or being able to munch terabytes of data are an issue.

    It would be also of course interesting (if that rumor will come out to be true to some extent)
    to hear what will become of SAP DB's various interfaces when they 'join the forces' - MySQL has that virulent GPL, SAP DB yet has LGPL interfaces
    (and most code also).

    There is no good and no bad in this story - both
    SAP DB and MySQL have scenarios they are well suited for. But, to repeat it, they have not much in common. I fear both will get dropped on the floor finally if this goes on ...

    1. Re:Ugly move by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Perhaps now is a good time to download the code for posterity? Heck, maybe one day I'll even be able to understand the damn thing.

  49. Next Generation SQL: PQL by Fweeky · · Score: 2, Funny
    Words may be longer, true, but the commands so much more authoritative!

    Sigh, when will people realise that computers work better if you're polite, meek and gentle around them; just think how much more data would be lost without people around the world repeating words to the effect of "Please, Please don't fail until this backup's complete" when hard drives start to fail!

    In this vein, I have started development of a next generation data processing language, aimed at harnessing the hugely underused power of politeness in this field, where data integrity is paramount.

    Here's an example query:
    DEAR PQL_SERVER. -- begin transaction

    ALLOW_ME_TO_INTRODUCE_MYSELF AS Mr username password. -- authenticate;
    -- username is a maximum of 1 letter, and password must be a suitably respected surname.
    -- Mrs and Ms are of course also allowed, and may have impacts on the exact
    -- speed and quality of the results, depending on server configuration and orientation.

    PLEASE_ACCEPT UPTO 20% OF MY_QUOTA. -- enable certain optimizations.

    IF (it_would_not_be_too_much_bother) COULD_YOU_PLEASE
    FETCH any_columns_you_can FROM MyTable
    AND MAYBE(IF (you_have_time))
    FILTER OUT ANY WHERE MyTable.ID IS NOT SOMEWHERE_AROUND 50.

    -- enable consistency checks in result
    PLEASE_TAKE_CARE.

    THANK_YOU_VERY_MUCH. -- end transaction; expect response within 3-4 days.
    -- Don't forget to acknowledge (THANK) the server sufficiently
    -- once it has been received, or server errors may result later.
  50. only 1 serious free dbms left... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    looks like SAP is deprecating SAPDB... too bad, that means postgresql is the only remaining free alternative to real dbmss like oracle and db2. SapDB showed promise, especially as a workgroup-scale free alternative to oracle.

    I wonder what will happen if more than 1 user tries to update with sap-on-mysql? will they block or pay for innodb?

    1. Re:only 1 serious free dbms left... by Sxooter · · Score: 1

      Don't forget interbase. It's a damned fine little dbms as well.

      --

      --- It is not the things we do which we regret the most, but the things which we don't do.
  51. This is why SAP and mySQL would want this. by johndavid · · Score: 3, Interesting

    A SAP mySQL merger/technology sharing agreement (what have you) makes a lot of sense for both groups. SAP's database is robust, and offers features that mySQL does not. msSQL is popular. msSQL could gain quite a bit of big-time features from SAP's DB (real tansactions, ACID compliance, etc.)SAP gains mind share and a real developers community (which equals growth and continuation of the platform.) IMHO it's a good fit. jd

    1. Re:This is why SAP and mySQL would want this. by Troll_Kamikaze · · Score: 1

      msSQL [sic] could gain quite a bit of big-time features from SAP's DB (real tansactions, ACID compliance, etc.)

      This is a severe oversimplification. Have you ever written a large program?

      SAPDB's code base is a mixture of C++ and Pascal, started circa 1980 and quite crufty.

      So how is MySQL just going to "gain" these features? Internally, their architectures are quite different; merging the two is anything but a sure bet.

    2. Re:This is why SAP and mySQL would want this. by johndavid · · Score: 1

      Well to be honest they might NOT gain anything. You are quite correct to note that it is not a sure bet by a long stretch. However I assume that what I outlined in the previous post are the goals. The programmers that SAP has at its disposal have loads of experience with heavy-duty databases, however I can see the management at SAP yearning for the kind of community participation (and thus corporate IT mind share,) that mySQL has. I can see the mySQL team benefiting from the SAP peoples experience. To answer you question about my ever written a large program the answer is no-unless you count some very large databases being run by several fortune 500 companies, which I imagine you do not. I am however, a CIO of a pretty decent sized law firm and have had over a dozen years experience in corporate IT. jd

  52. Re:KarmaBurnFriday; time to speak of Michael. by davidkw · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Karma Burn is right! Time to reset my threshhold. This is completely childish.

    --
    DKW
  53. Re:SAP? - resume by Chemicalscum · · Score: 1
    You can download SAPdb for free too - SAP opensourced it.

    You pay the big bucks for all the fancy ERP stuf

  54. Why Join Indeed. by Christopher+B.+Brown · · Score: 4, Interesting
    I think this hits the nail on the head. There are benefits to both sides in the deal:
    • MySQL contributes "name recognition" and popularity;
    • SAP-DB contributes a whole lot of functionality
    Correspondingly, they also may have some ability to cover one anothers' weaknesses:
    • Compiling SAP-DB is, as you say, nearly impossible.

      The code base is exceedingly obscure, and having the MySQL folk do some work on it may relieve that problem somewhat.

    • MySQL has some severe functionality deficiencies from the perspectives of anyone accustomed to DBMSes with mature transaction support, relational capabilities, and support for SQL features that go beyond minimal "entry level" stuff.

      SAP-DB has fairly mature answers for all those deficiencies.

    Of course, the code bases are presently entirely separate, so that ripping things down to build them back up is likely to be a multi-year project. Compare with Mozilla; when its source was "opened," they had to rip out all sorts of code from Rogue Wave, The Open Group, and others, and the results weren't useful until a LOT of work got done.

    In that interim, "mindshare competitors" such as PostgreSQL and Firebird ("the database, not the web browser" :-)) aren't likely to stand still, so it seems likely to me that a major result will be for them to get a lot more popular.

    --
    If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.
    1. Re:Why Join Indeed. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I wouldn't say MySQL brings any kind of 'name recognition' to any market having to do with SAP.

    2. Re:Why Join Indeed. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      OK, you're all code junkies. Your definition of installing includes compiling?...

      Download the smegging binaries and use the thing!
      There's more than enough OS' on the binary list.

      It is the easiest database I've ever had to install. That includes MySQL and PostgreSQL. Why?... because I used the binary install like most people do (are slashdotters "most people"?).

      It comes with scripts to make databases, and transforms the whole experience into an absolute dream.

      I've been using SAPDB for around a year now, and it's truly awesome. The best part of SAPDB, is the documentation and tool support (read: tools you can download with it). None of the other open source DB's have that level of documentation and tool support.

      Better yet, go get the free CD, and have it all in one place!

      Saying SAPDB is hard to install makes you a complete nutter*. I've installed it remotely on bare-bones systems just as easy as my developer box.

      No wait... you're right, it IS really hard to install. You have to find three directory paths in which it can install its stuff!

      * Be a user instead of a luser for once, dope.

    3. Re:Why Join Indeed. by Christopher+B.+Brown · · Score: 1
      For SAPDB to be acceptable for inclusion in Linux distributions requires that people involved with that be able to compile it.

      I use PostgreSQL in contexts where we don't have root access on colocated hardware, which mandates that we have to be able to compile it (and various other software) to run as we see fit. That is the sort of thing I need , your opinions of who's a nutter notwithstanding.

      And the issue isn't simply that SAP-DB is tough to compile; it is also troublesome that the code base is pretty "reader-hostile," to the point that the only people prepared to invest the time to fight through it are those that get paid by SAP AG for it. You don't care about that? Well, it's a good thing that some of us do...

      --
      If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.
  55. Re:SAP? - resume by Christopher+B.+Brown · · Score: 4, Insightful

    But these issues aren't relevant to this thread.

    The discussion is not about the "huge, complex application," R/3, it is about the database.

    And in the context of R/3, the database is essentially an embedded component, a tiny part of the overall system, and one that isn't used with immense sophistication. Most big R/3 installs use Oracle, but, for the most part, not in a terribly sophisticated way. There is little if any use of "advanced stuff" like foreign keys, triggers, or stored procedures; the DBMS is used as a "data store," and isn't expected to be terribly smart.

    There lies an interesting connection; that description historically describes MySQL fairly well, as a relatively unsophisticated data store. Make MySQL more robust and it might well make a nice "cheap" data store for R/3 . (Mind you, commercial licenses for MySQL cost hundreds of dollars more, per CPU, than, say, PostgreSQL...)

    But the "resume connection" certainly doesn't appear to be the point...

    --
    If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.
  56. Re:IBM should explain why crippled DB2 to cost $10 by Anonymous+Coed · · Score: 1

    It's easy. If it's anything at all better than MSDE, the redistributable SQL Server 2000 Lite, then companies that need to distribute a database with their product (like mine) will gladly eat it up. We would definitely pay $1000 to get a redistributable database that is better than MSDE (and as 'invisible' as possible.) I have some hopes that IBM's product may indeed be worthwhile, but I haven't had a chance to evaluate it yet.

    One of the main factors is how easily and reliably it installs.

    One of my company's worst problems right now is that when they try to install our product, often the MSDE version fails to install for various obscure reasons that are basically out of our control.

    The customer says "what a piece of shit" and never looks at our product again. If this DB2 Express product installs rock-solid (and is a reasonable download size) then we will jump all over it.

  57. Re:IBM should explain why crippled DB2 to cost $10 by Anonymous+Coed · · Score: 1

    Of course, we also ship Postgresql on all our supported Unix platforms. We also have high hopes for a future Windows version of Postgresql, but this DB2 Express product will also be available for most of our Unix platforms.

  58. SAP or MySQL? by HSpirit · · Score: 1

    I'm just about to implement an advertising booking system for my small employer, which will eventually be expanded into an entire contact management solution (so is the plan, anyway :)

    My employer originally wanted me to use Access [usual reasons - that's the way other companies he's seen have done it, Microsoft is great, Microsoft is wonderful, etc etc] but then I told him about the Microsoft tax and now he sees the wisdom of an open source solution :)

    I was going to use a MySQL backend served by Apache/PHP hosted on our MacOSX PowerMac (I'm still at the data modelling phase at the moment) - but now I'm wondering if this SAP DB might be a better solution? I am impressed by the reputation of SAP in enterprise solutions, but from what I understand this SAP DB is strictly a RDBMS backend, not dissimilar from MySQL or the base install of Oracle.

    Any thoughts?

    1. Re:SAP or MySQL? by Graelin · · Score: 1

      I am impressed by the reputation of SAP in enterprise solutions

      That is because SAP makes a very large line of very large products that have nothing to do with their database. While many people probably do use SAPDB, most people running SAP apps are running them on top of MSSQL or Oracle. IMO, if they can't get their own customers to use their own stuff I'd stay away from it.

      I'm wondering if this SAP DB might be a better solution?

      Honestly, I wouldn't even think about it for a number of reasons:

      a) It sounds like MySQL will handle your present and future needs just fine.
      b) Support is easier to get for MySQL for small-mid sized installations (yours).
      c) You're already designing your schema for MySQL. Switching to SAP would require a complete re-do of any existing work, that is if you want to do it properly at least. This will add significant delays to your project.
      d) Learning curve. It's non-trivial.

      In summary: Stick with MySQL.

      If you do try something else, try Postgres. They need more community involvment.

    2. Re:SAP or MySQL? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I second that. MySQL is the way to go.

    3. Re:SAP or MySQL? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      SAP DB is a good solution, but you're in a world of headache to get it running on OS-X. If MySQL is good enough, go with it. Otherwise, use PostgreSQL.

      If you're running a separate database server, I'd happily use SAP DB.

  59. MyZilla? by axxackall · · Score: 1

    you mean MyZilla?

    --

    Less is more !
  60. MyGreSQL by axxackall · · Score: 1

    Adding feature of a real DBMS (SAP) to MySQL will let finally call it MyGreSQL.

    --

    Less is more !
  61. ease of use by perlchild · · Score: 1

    something else SAP is getting, that I didn't see commented on...
    Just getting the mysql coders to RPM/DEB/PKG the software, and distribute it would probably help sapdb(not because it's hard to compile, but because packages integrate the software into the distro, and track dependencies for you, as well as providing defaults, and helpful systems administration things like startup scripts and logrotation, well the GOOD packaging systems do)

  62. hahhaha by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    good one.

  63. use SAPDB by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Have u used SAPDB?

    it has an OODBMS called liveCache.

    SAPDB is an excellent product - and i fail to see what mySQL could add to SAPDB...

  64. Not a HUGE deal at all by tundog · · Score: 1

    While SAP is one of the biggest (3rd largest software company behind Oracle and M$, #1 in ERP) the DB is not such a bug deal. See my other post. The DB is just a building block that SAP application servers use to store both runtime program strucutures and data. It's the busniess processes/logic that's HUGE.

    Most SAP customers use Oracle DB. SAP competes with Oracle in the Enterprise Resource Planning space, but not the DB space.

    --
    All your base are belong to us!
  65. MOD THIS PARENT UP by tundog · · Score: 1



    SAP wants no piece of the DB market. They left years ago and havn't looked back. See these.

    --
    All your base are belong to us!
  66. Re:KarmaBurnFriday; time to speak of Michael. by RLiegh · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    This is completely childish.

    Childishness? On slashdot? That almost never happens!
  67. you need some research... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    PostgreSQL can't handle the load/data that SAPDB can. The only thing SAPDB doesn't have is clustering, but then again, neither does Interbase, and you have to pay PostgreSQL for eRServer which has the replication services.

    I've hit the wall with PostgreSQL, and so have others. It has to be taken down to complete some maintenance tasks, and the performance degrades with large amounts of data with various queries that should be non-issue.

    Converting to SAPDB relieved all these problems. SAPDB handles the load of extra data, and is hands-off for scalability maintenance. Then when you throw in warm back-ups and other value-adds, it proves that your half-assed comment is full of sh!t.

    1. Re:you need some research... by Sxooter · · Score: 1

      I call bs on your entire post. either that or you haven't touched Postgresql in well over two years.

      Vacuums can be run while the database is in full operation. i know, I've done it.

      the folks who test the Linux kernel for scalability under a database are switching FROM SAPdb TO Postgresql because it is faster and provides more load on the kernel than SAPdb.

      If your performance degrades over time, you likely don't know how to vacuum, or need to reindex. Reindexing will be a non issue in 7.4, due out this summer.

      Postgresql uses MVCC, if you design your database to update the same field over and over, you're going to have issues, because mvcc doesn't perform well when treated like a row locking database.

      Postgresql has had hot backups since 7.1 came along, nearly three years ago.

      Your comment is more half assed than the one you replied to, because your knowledge is hopelessly out of date, yet you still cling to it.

      --

      --- It is not the things we do which we regret the most, but the things which we don't do.
  68. No, no, no, SAP DB is not SAP by PizzaFace · · Score: 1

    Lots of people are confusing SAP, the enterprise application software, with SAP DB, the open source database that SAP develops so customers have a free back end for the expensive SAP application software.

    Oracle seems to be the most popular back end for SAP applications, but SAP doesn't trust Oracle not to try to steal its customers for Oracle's own application software. Also, the expense of Oracle's database reduces the amount a company can spend on SAP software. So SAP pays dozens of developers to build a free Oracle alternative.

  69. My Literacy (or lack thereof). by Tokerat · · Score: 1

    Plus, if you've got anything with "SAP" on your CV/resume, you can get a higher-paid job.
    I put "I'm a sap!" on my resume, but the guy looked at me like I was some kinda freakin' moron or something...
    --
    CAn'T CompreHend SARcaSm?
  70. SAP isn't a software package, either by Christopher+B.+Brown · · Score: 1
    SAP is the name of a company.

    It is NOT "a software package;" the "collection of programs" you are alluding to is not called "SAP," but rather R/3 . Recently, they have also been hawking a sort of "distribution" under the name MySAP, but that does not change that "SAP" is the name of the company.

    As to the "runs best on Oracle," I don't think one can readily distinguish whether there is actually any technical merit to that or whether it's a marketing ploy that SAP, Oracle, and consultants all agree is in their interests to believe...

    --
    If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.
    1. Re:SAP isn't a software package, either by Pat+O'Putkey · · Score: 1
      As to the "runs best on Oracle," I don't think one can readily distinguish whether there is actually any technical merit to that or whether it's a marketing ploy that SAP, Oracle, and consultants all agree is in their interests to believe...
      Well it sucks on Informix.
  71. Re:IBM should explain why crippled DB2 to cost $10 by buckinm · · Score: 1

    Postgres runs under (and comes with) cygwin.

    --
    This isn't any ordinary darkness. It's advanced darkness.
  72. Re:IBM should explain why crippled DB2 to cost $10 by Anonymous+Coed · · Score: 1

    We're not about to require that potential customers install Cygwin to evaluate our software. It has to be a Win32-native version. Besides, the cygwin version of postgresql wasn't very stable last time I checked. (About 6 months ago.)

  73. SAPDB WHY? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And now What is future of SAPDB? No Mysql please.

    Carlos.

  74. Re:IBM should explain why crippled DB2 to cost $10 by Sxooter · · Score: 1

    FYI, the native Windows port to 7.2.1 was made last year as a kind of "test bed" and the code from that port is being incorporated into 7.4, which goes into code freeze in another few weeks.

    After that, windows will be a natively supported platform.

    --

    --- It is not the things we do which we regret the most, but the things which we don't do.
  75. Re:IBM should explain why crippled DB2 to cost $10 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Actually there are several native windows postgresql solutions right now, they just arn't open source. Still, if your into commercial software, they are definitly worth a look.

  76. asdf by dubbayu_d_40 · · Score: 1

    sold inkp today, @2.90