MySQL's Mickos shares 'database in the sky' vision
SAN FRANCISCO--Marten Mickos, the CEO of open-source database provider MySQL, called on people to help the company create "a database in the sky," the equivalent of a Google search engine for structured data.
Mickos spoke at the Web 2.0 Summit on Thursday where he described his vision for how databases around the world could be connected to help people find information.
For example, he said that people interested in weather information should be able to collect data from databases of several weather stations around the world.
"I can't do that today without a lot of work. If I could do that in a structured way, it would instantly bring us new business and create a new round of Web 2.0 companies," Mickos said.
He proposed that the software could be created through an open-source project.
Improved network bandwidth can overcome some of the technical challenges of querying several distributed databases at once. He also said that in some cases, information does not need to be updates in real time.
After his talk, Mickos said that the "database in the sky" is simply a company vision and not a product or project under way. But, he added, it is something he and others at MySQL have been thinking about for about a year.
