Monty Wants To Save MySQL

An anonymous reader writes "It seems as if the MySQL author is trying hard to win back control over MySQL. In his blog he calls upon the MySQL users to 'Help keep the Internet free' by signing his petition. He fears that if Oracle buys Sun they automatically get MySQL which would spell doom for the project. But I have have mixed feelings with this call for help, because after all — who sold MySQL in the first place?"

Comments

Own fault

[sopssa]

Maybe he shouldn't had sold it in the first time, so he wouldn't be crying it back now?

It's like you broke up with your girlfriend and then go crying her back when she has found a new guy, while you're having no luck.

Re:Own fault

[sopssa]

David and I however thought that this would not be a problem, as we would help ensure that MySQL would be bought by a good owner.

So it was really short-sighted thinking. They should had have some clause that limits how MySQL project would be possibly resold, or not sell the company at all, because its pretty clear that the project could be resold or go along with larger corporate overtakes. It's happened hundreds of times. They got to have known this.

Me too!

[TheRaven64]

I, too, would love to sell something for a billion dollars and then have it given back.

Re:Me too!

[onefriedrice]

It's not as if he was unaware of the danger of the death of free software.

The supposed death of free software and a "free internet" is just the distraction he's trying to use. MySQL is open source. Even if Oracle relicenses future releases of MySQL under terms that are less free, we still have the same MySQL as we've always had with the same free terms. If it were ever to be an issue, a fork would happen immediately and/or we'd see increased use of PostgreSQL. Either way, the "internet" will be kept free regardless. I don't know much about Monty, but my prejudgment is that he's slime.

There is already a perfectly good free DBMS

[A beautiful mind]

It's called PostgreSQL. It's fast, what's even more important, it's correct and it's tried and tested. Get it here.

Baloney! He doesn't want to save MySQL

[SwashbucklingCowboy]

He wants to build another business on MySQL and force Oracle into letting him do it.

This is greed masquerading as virtue.

A sentence is missing from the beginning...

[mark-t]

"In January, 2008, Sun legally acquired MySQL for $1 billion."

Re:A sentence is missing from the beginning...

[JWSmythe]

    You have to provide references before saying something like that. :)

    It was $1B in total considerations, which most likely wasn't all cash. I'm sure all of it didn't go in Monty's pocket, but I'm sure he did walk away with a pretty nice sum.

    There's a thing about business though. Most places want to grow a business from nothing, to the point where it's a viable product to sell. Then they sell it. All of it. There's no looking back. It was yours, now it's not. So sorry, move on.

    If I made something, and it sold for $1B, I'd be a pretty happy camper. Hell, Sabeer Bhatia sold Hotmail in 1997 for $400M, and he was happy. Now (in a 2007 article I read), is funding new startups with the hope of making the next killer app that will be bigger than Hotmail.

    I have a few things that I've done, and if someone offered me even $1M to give one up, I'd take it. I wouldn't look back. I'd smile the whole way to the bank. :)

    If he wants MySQL back, tough. If Sun decides to gut it, and make the MySQL site into a porn link farm web site, and the database engine into a shell script that greps a flat file, so be it. It's theirs, and it's their decision. They could sell to Oracle, or Microsoft, or anyone they'd like.

    If he *really* wants it back, he should put his effort into his new database, and don't give it up next time, even for $1B.

InnoDB is Oracle already..

[praseodym]

Since InnoDB (the only proper storage engine in the default MySQL distribution) is owned by Oracle already, why bother?

Fuck Monty and the horse he rode in on

[ReallyEvilCanine]

This three-week-old story hasn't changed a bit and neither has Monty's disingenuous hypocrisy.

If he'd wanted to retain control then why did he sell mySQL to Sun? Once that sale was completed he gave up his rights and claims. He certainly didn't have a problem with a corporation owning it in exchange for a cool billion earlier.

What Sun said they wanted to do with it is immaterial; Monty's rights to do anything more than complain vocally were terminated by his own hand the instant he signed the contract, and were made irreversible when he deposited that check.

The fact of the matter is that Oracle doesn't give more than about a shit-and-a-half about mySQL. Oracle cares about Enterprise installations and mySQL not only ain't there now, it never will be. Even Foxbase^W^H MS SQL Server spanks it 37 ways to next Tuesday in Enterprise and Data Warehousing environments.

Meanwhile, if mySQL really is and has remained open source, then it's still open, so Monty should STFU and fork it already. If not, then he himself killed it and there's no one else to blame.

Once you sell your 2CV to someone, you have no more say in what's done with the car, even if it turns out to have been bought by Top Gear and they want to blow it up. Once you take the money, you don't get to complain anymore. If it had meant that much to Monty then why did he sell?

Cake: have vs. eat.

The comment moderation on his blog is just icing on that cake -- only comments supporting poor, ickle widdle Monty's untenable position are allowed through.

And for those who still refuse to change the "evil Oracle" record, The base Oracle DB charge is $350 (Std) / $950 (Ent) per user or $17,500 (Std) / $47,500 (Ent) per processor -- annually, not including required support and other charges -- Oracle doesn't give a shit about mySQL and the paltry few thousand that supporting it might bring in.

If it's really still Open Sauce and the community doesn't like what happens with it then mySQL will fork. Again. Except that it will need a new core team since the current core team has bills to pay and enjoys employment during an economic mess.

And how much money did he make from it?

[frinkacheese]

So MySQL sold for a cool $1 billion in whatever it was, and now he wants to get it back for free? This is so funny it may just work.

Time to switch...

[XB-70]

Instead of whining, it's time to make the switch to a 'real' database: PostgreSQL - http://www.postgresql.org/

It may not be as fast as MySQL, but it's certainly more robust and capable. If you look at the core of ORACLE's design (which is pretty damned good), you'll find that Postgresql has similar design principals.

When it comes to data loss, I'd rather the more robust database than the fastest one.