Thread: Re: [GENERAL] Oracle buys Innobase

Jim C. Nasby wrote:
> http://lnk.nu/prnewswire.com/4dv.pl

Amazing.  You have to love the totally unrelated license mention Oracle
added to the press release:

    InnoDB is not a standalone database product:  it is distributed as a
    part of the MySQL database.  InnoDB's contractual relationship with
    MySQL comes up for renewal next year.  Oracle fully expects to negotiate
    an extension of that relationship.

Read $$$.

This is the logical way Oracle would attack a competitor (buy up a key
piece of their technology).  Oracle looked for MySQL's easiest weakness
to exploit, and found it.  It isn't even vaguely cloaked, because InnoDB
doesn't even have a db product, it is just licensed by MySQL.  This
certainly puts a dent in the MySQL 5.0 press buzz, which I suppose was
part of the timing.

Do open source users want licensed technology from a company owned by
Oracle?  I doubt it.   My guess is that the InnoDB license will now be
used as FUD against MySQL perpetually.

This might also be related to the article by the MySQL CEO saying they
are not competing with Oracle:

    http://www.cbronline.com/article_news.asp?guid=9231B8BD-3788-4DB2-B85F-707E75857B58

This might be a sort of detente saying MySQL will not move into Oracle
accounts.  Certainly the MySQL CEO must have known this was coming, so
his comments now appear in a different light.

What is our vulnerability?  Oracle offering big-money jobs to PostgreSQL
developers.  I think that is our only weakness, unless they buy Marc
(Marc, are you for sale? :-) ) and own the domains and trademark.

Ultimately, MySQL should drop InnoDB.

--
  Bruce Momjian                        |  http://candle.pha.pa.us
  pgman@candle.pha.pa.us               |  (610) 359-1001
  +  If your life is a hard drive,     |  13 Roberts Road
  +  Christ can be your backup.        |  Newtown Square, Pennsylvania 19073

Bruce,

> What is our vulnerability?  Oracle offering big-money jobs to PostgreSQL
> developers.  I think that is our only weakness, unless they buy Marc
> (Marc, are you for sale? :-):-) ) and own the domains and trademark.

Well, that *is* a serious concern.   That's why Marc and I are working on
making sure these things are legally protected.

--
--Josh

Josh Berkus
Aglio Database Solutions
San Francisco

On Fri, Oct 07, 2005 at 03:02:57PM -0400, Bruce Momjian wrote:
> What is our vulnerability?  Oracle offering big-money jobs to PostgreSQL
> developers.  I think that is our only weakness, unless they buy Marc
> (Marc, are you for sale? :-) ) and own the domains and trademark.

That strikes me as a good reason to get the trademarks out from any
one person's control.  While I certainly trust Marc not to abuse
them, nothing is safer than institutional protection.  In the
unlikely event that Marc was unable to defend the things he holds in
trust for the community, some agent could determine that the best
settlement could be achieved by selling the "asset" to someone.

A

--
Andrew Sullivan  | ajs@crankycanuck.ca
In the future this spectacle of the middle classes shocking the avant-
garde will probably become the textbook definition of Postmodernism.
                --Brad Holland

Bruce Momjian <pgman@candle.pha.pa.us> writes:
> Ultimately, MySQL should drop InnoDB.

Given that MyISAM is still their first love, I don't think that outcome
is preposterous at all.  If Oracle tries to squeeze too hard, that's
probably exactly what they'll do.  It'll put a bit of a dent in their
claims to having transaction support, but I think their bread-and-butter
applications are still mostly MyISAM.

            regards, tom lane

On Fri, 7 Oct 2005, Bruce Momjian wrote:

> What is our vulnerability?  Oracle offering big-money jobs to PostgreSQL
> developers.  I think that is our only weakness, unless they buy Marc
> (Marc, are you for sale? :-) ) and own the domains and trademark.

I'm not for sale, else I would have sold a *long* time ago ...

----
Marc G. Fournier           Hub.Org Networking Services (http://www.hub.org)
Email: scrappy@hub.org           Yahoo!: yscrappy              ICQ: 7615664

> Ultimately, MySQL should drop InnoDB.

     This will happen eventually, there is no doubt, Sun seems like its
going to eventually integrate PostgreSQL into Solaris as a pkg most
likely:

http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;116679278;fp;16;fpid;0

     Hopefully that should make PostgreSQL shine even more. Maybe we
may also see some @sun.com contributers, okay that maybe wishful thinking.

     Cheers,

     Aly.

--
Aly S.P Dharshi
aly.dharshi@telus.net

      "A good speech is like a good dress
       that's short enough to be interesting
       and long enough to cover the subject"