Gov't GSA Office goes MySQL

comforteagle writes "MySQL has won a five year contract with the US General Services Administration office putting it in yet another government office on top of NASA, the Dept. of Def., Los Alamos National Labs & the Census Bureau. This additional win allows around 70 Government customers to purchase and deploy MySQL."

Comments

GSA is not just another office

[hedronist]

GSA is not just another gov't office. Once you are on the GSA Schedule, then many other government offices and agencies can simply buy your product without any additional paperwork. This means that the on-ramp to MySQL just got *much* easier for many groups in the U.S. govenment.

To quote: "With the GSA contract, GS-35F-0131R Schedule 70, government customers will be able to purchase and deploy MySQL through Carahsoft Technology Corp. The GSA schedule is effective Dec. 20, 2005 through Nov. 19, 2009."

See the magic words "GSA Schedule?" This is a Very Good Thing(tm).

Negotiating a GSA price/dealer is NOT "deploying"

[ScentCone]

This is certainly useful, in that it makes the product available to Federal users at a known (and, since it's on a GSA schedule, typically better-than-average) price. But when a reseller negotiates to be the GSA dealer for an item, that's all they've accomplished. That's NOT the same as actually talking an agency into using the product. We also want to be careful not to draw the wrong conclusions. When they say that NASA is using it, that means it's one more tool in NASA's toolbox. Some people might get the impression that they're using in lieu of other DB engines, rather than along side of such.

Re:Paying to deploy OSS?

[damned_mediocrity]

Yeah, paying for the software itself. MySQL's licensing scheme, from what I can remember, is hazy to say the least. There's a "commercial" license and the regular GPL license. You have to choose one or the other, and their criteria are vague.

They recommend that all commercial entities use the commercial license. And if you call them to discuss the ins and outs of their licensing scheme, they'll try to talk you into the commercial license anyway.

Here's a nice blog entry about this scariness.

P.S. You're right. You *are* the bad analogy guy. You win.

Just goes to show how xenophobic the US govt. is

[Netsnipe]

Choosing to go with a database that doesn't support foreign keys.

This is an opportunity

[core plexus]

Flamers aside, this is yet another example of an emerging opportunity, much like this story I just read about doing business with Intelligence Agencies.

"The federal government will spend in excess of $400 billion with contractors this year and over $100 billion is expected to be spent with small businesses. Now business people from all over the U.S. can learn first hand from the experts how to capitalize on these business opportunities with federal government agencies without leaving their own offices"

Sounds good to me.

Re:Is MySQL really the right choice?

[Jamesday]

How does a site handling 6,000 page views per second, around a billion queries per day on five database servers and in the top 40 sites in the world according to Alexa.com sound?

Or how does Google's main revenue source or Travelocity's booking system or big chunks of Yahoo or... do I really need to continue with more examples of massive web traffic using MySQL?

Site design can be screwed up. It can also be done right. People regularly do it both ways. The database server usually isn't the reason. The people using it are.

News - Sort of

[HardCase]

MySQL is on the GSA schedule - but thousands upon thousands of products are available on the GSA schedule. Just being on the GSA schedule isn't particularly dramatic, though. And the headline (and even the summary) are quite a bit more breathless and quite a bit less accurate than the real story.

-h-

Re:News - Sort of

[magores]

Hardcase hit the nail.

As a former Contracts Administrator for a computer oem, I may be able to shed a little light on how all this works.

Basically, if your product (toilet paper, paper clips, software, whatever...) is on the GSA schedule, then the various government agencies are allowed to purchase it. If your widget is not on the schedule, then they can't.

There are a number of ways around the rule of "GSA-Buy, No GSA-No Buy", but that is the way its suppossed to work. For those that are curious, here are a couple of ways the various governemtn agencies can get around the GSA...
1) This is probably the easiest way to get around this rule - Simply buy the widget via a different contract (schedule=contract). Your favorite toilet paper isn't listed on GSA, but it is listed with XYZ MAS? And, it "just so happens" that your agency is allowed to buy via XYZ? Go ahead and buy all you need.
2) Another "popular" way to get around the rule is for the agency that needs whatever product to write their request in such a way that only 1 particular product can meet the specifications. Government rules allow for such exceptions. "I don't care if its not on the list! Our agency simply MUST have toilet paper that is produced in Walla Walla, Washington by non-caucasion midgets with two left hands." Ta-Da ... Your TP is on the way. Writing the specs this way is extremely easy when the TP sales rep writes the specs for you. Oops... I mean, the sales rep makes "suggestions". Having them write it would be (cough, cough) illegal.

Now, lets assume that your specific government agency strictly abides by the GSA, and your favorite TP is on the GSA schedule. Here's what happens, more or less...
1) Agency writes up their needs. (2-ply TP, blue flowers, single roll wrapped)
2) They submit their needs to a buyer.
3) Buyer looks at the GSA list.
4) Buyer chooses whatever the heck s/he wants. - "Least Cost" is the typical over-riding factor in the decision.

It's not particularly hard to have the buyer buy the specific TP that you want. It may be more expensive in actual dollars, but "look at the customer service! Surely that's worth something!"

Everywhere above that I mention TP, substitute MySQL... Its the same. Its a product.
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I'm rambling, so I'll wrap up now...

-If anyone in government really wanted MySQL, they could have gotten it with or without GSA.
-Now that MySQL is on the GSA, so what? People won't "buy" it on a whim. Someone has to sell it. (And I mean "sell", in a used car type of way.)
-That 5 year contract? It's really a 10 or 15 year deal. Extensions are easy.

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I've over-simplified quite a bit, and I should probably have defined MAS, RFP, RFQ, SAS, etc. but I don't want to ramble anymore.

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Have fun.

M

You've gotta hand it to 'em

[brogdon]

After years of exhaustive, painstaking, and expensive study, our government has finally devised a method to buy something that's free.

I hope it at least comes with a $600 wrench or something...

Re:You've gotta hand it to 'em

[duffer_01]

Man, would everyone stop saying it is free. Just because you don't have to pay for the software doesn't mean that you won't pay for support or for the commercial license if you need to hide your source code.

Re:You're Full of Shit

[verbatim]

It greatly depends on how you 'use' it.

Lets say you have a Java app that, in whatever way, uses the standard jdbc classes. One of your users chooses to use the MYSQL jdbc drivers to connect to a MySQL server. Your app doesn't need to be GPL, imo, because the only code YOU used was sun's JDBC code. Your user chose to link it to the GPL'd drivers and it's their responsability to adhere to the license. Since they can't distribute your code (they don't have it) as long as they don't distribute the binaries to the app, they are not in violation (since the code bit only applies to distribution).

HOWEVER, if you either specifically tell the user to use MySQL or expect the GPL mysql driver in your code (ie, specifically referencing the driver in the connect setup) then you are in GPL territory.

Now lets say you have a C/C++ app and you link in the mysql library (either statically or dynamically). The mysql client lib is under gpl and you, if you distribute your application, would be required to release it under the gpl - after all, you are using gpl'd code. The only way around this would be to find or develop and use a non-gpl driver.

The real answer, anyway, is that it depends on what you are linking to and how you link to it. Yes, simply connecting to a MySQL server does not implictly bind you to the GPL - just like Microsoft isn't required to GPL internet explorer because it can talk to a GPL'd webserver. However, if you are using the GPL'd drivers to connect, you are in GPL territory (not because you are connecting, but because you are using the GPL'd code to do it).

Oh, and IANAL and IMHO and YMMV and TANSTAAFL. :)

Standards, schstandards

[leandrod]

So even the US government does not really care anymore for its own standards. I guess Oracle will feel relieved with their 'ISO SQL 92 minus datatypes and a few other essentials' product. It kind of makes the efforts of PostgreSQL and others toward ISO SQL:2003 (hint: each ISO SQL standard cancels the former one) futile.

MySQL makes it easier

[Flying pig]

In fact, the simple security model, sensible and clear install options and user-friendly design tools make it more likely that a MySQL install will be done properly than, say, an application connecting to MS SQL Server or SQL Server Express. The steepness of the MS SQL learning curve and the counter-intuitivity of many of the Transact-SQL statements and default install options cause a lot of trouble for small scale users. I guess the result is a lot of small database applications stick with "Access" because the users cannot get budget for migration. Whereas with MySQL, there is a chance they will get something that works properly going quite quickly, and be able to deploy the results to Java clients, Crystal, OOo, Excel, FileMaker etc. without major pain.

Ever since the MySQL installer required a root password and disabled root connections outside localhost by default, while telling you that in clear language during the install process, it has been more credible as a simple installable RDBMS than some of the competition. FileMaker is another example of a database (of a sort, though) which makes sensible install defaults and then allows progressive expansion of capability without overwhelming the user with poorly documented options, but it is not as install-friendly.

I know it is fashionable for "real" computer scientists and DBAs to sneer at MySQL. But that's actually a sign of insecurity. Real mechanics don't sneer at zinc plated steel bolts because 316 is available: they just don't use zinc plate under salt spray conditions.

In other news

[SmallFurryCreature]

Both Steve Ballmer and Larry Elison were seen throwing chairs and screaming, "We are a going to fucking bury the DoD, we did it before and we will do it again".

The DoD was heard mumbling something along the lines of "you and what army" and went back to keeping democracy save for billionares everywhere.

Re:Just goes to show how xenophobic the US govt. i

[Johnno74]

Geez. Tough crowd. I thought it was the funniest comment I've seen on /. all week.

I guess you must be a MySQL user, and/or an American, right? ;)