Oracle buys Sun, MySQL concerns

1529 Views 8 Replies 7 Participants Last post by noodles, Apr 24, 2009

1

Discussion Starter · Apr 21, 2009

Couple of good perspectives on the potential pitfalls of this for MySQL geeks:

MrEyes said:
Oracle has bought Sun.

Well it would seem that MySQL as we know it today might cease to exist in the not too distant future.

More info here:

Oracle buys Sun; Now owns Java; Becomes a hardware player | Between the Lines | ZDNet.com

I realise that nothing has yet been officially said about the future of MySQL however it is logical to assume that Oracle are unlikely to continue with the MySQL platform considering that they have an extremely good database framework of their own.

MrEyes said:
Hence the "as we know it today" How many people use anything other than the official Sun "supported" release? Have you ever heard of Maria or Drizzle? If you have, have you ever considered installing them over the "official" Sun release.

If Oracle drops MySQL there will of course be people who will continue to maintain the platform, however without somebody at the helm (i.e. Sun) it will be directionless and splinter into many different versions each with their own advantages, disadvantages and more importantly incompatibilities. IMHO open source works for single/dual developer small application frameworks, however once you get into the realms of "enterprise" frameworks (Apache, MySQL, OpenSSL, Subversion etc) you need somebody at the helm maintaining course, direction & consistency. All you have to do is look at the myriad Linux distributions and their associated quirks to see what could happen.

Put your commerical Larry Ellison head on and ask yourself this, what is the incentive to continue to improve an open-source product that could compete with its existing flagship?

As I mentioned, this is an "if" - However if I was Oracle I would hold onto MySQL but mothball the project as it effects the bottom line of my primary database product, I most certainly would not consider improving the product in any way as this may result in loosing existing Oracle DB customers to MySQL. Another alternative would be that Oracle uses MySQL as an feature limited entrypoint into their primary Oracle DB system.

As for Oracle not killing Java that goes without saying, they do not have any comparable competitor product so the addition of Java to the Oracle portfolio is advantageous

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This is EXACTLY the conversation my boss and I had today over chicken burritos. Why would Oracle want to offer a free database as an alternative to their extremely pricey product? Right off the bat, I'd look for processor/core limitations to the product that will make it not run on anything but the most entry level servers. Eventually, it will just get flat out absorbed into Oracle Lite.

Java will probably not get screwed with much. It's pretty hard to make a programming language proprietary, but I do expect a whole lot more hooks for Oracle and Web Logic to be built into it. While this may be a good thing from a development standpoint, it is going to simply errode any chance that a competing database or applications server will have of gaining additional market share.

Everyone is also forgetting about Open Office and Solaris. Oracle is a HUGE company, and has been pretty intelligently and aggressively run as of late. They wanted to buy RedHat, but Solaris will do just fine. Open Office is actually a very useful, cross-platform, MS Office-compatible office suite. Microsoft could have it's first real competition on the PC desktop in a long, long time, and they're hardly in a position to run Oracle into the ground.

Sun used to own the UNIX hardware market, all but killing off SGI and Next, but bad management has let Linux start to dominate. Considering how entrenched Sun is in the government and older telecom market, the right management could simply banish Linux to the realm of small business.

Oracle is one of those companies that truly scares me. They could simply swallow the IT industry like IBM and Microsoft have done before.

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· #3 · Apr 22, 2009

I'm not sure there is as much competition between Oracle and mySQL as the article is assuming. Has anyone actually compared Oracle and mySQL, and had to make the decision one way or the other, or was it a foregone conclusion one way or the other? I feel like they're playing to two completely different markets.

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Max

· #4 · Apr 22, 2009

oh great. so much for open databasing eh?

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343

· #5 · Apr 23, 2009

Max said:
oh great. so much for open databasing eh?

postgresql is pretty decent actually. yes it can be slower but it has a lot more functionality than mysql.

here is a nice article describing postgresql vs mysql

PostgreSQL vs MySQL: Which is better?  Database Journal

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Oogadee Boogadee

· #6 · Apr 24, 2009

geeks.

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1

Discussion Starter · #7 · Apr 24, 2009

Oogadee Boogadee said:
geeks.

Let's make out. :vince:

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eelblack2

· #8 · Apr 24, 2009

It does seem that the article is overplaying the competition. I cant think of any situation where I honestly would be deciding between the two platforms. One is training wheels and the other one isnt.

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noodles

· #9 · Apr 24, 2009

eelblack2 said:
It does seem that the article is overplaying the competition. I cant think of any situation where I honestly would be deciding between the two platforms. One is training wheels and the other one isnt.

That's not the issue for me. I'm assuming that Oracle will build some sort of hardware limitation into MySQL (like processor and/or core limitations) that disable the product if you upgrade your hardware. MySQL is a boon for smaller companies, development shops, and home users. I have been several places where the development is done on MySQL, and then Oracle is spec'ed for production, with a careful eye on performances verses their ridiculous licensing fees.

The problem with Oracle is that there is no middle ground. All but the most bare-boned of modern system require you to pay tens of thousands of dollars.

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