MySQL's Monty Widenius leaves Sun

Valleywag is reporting that Michael ("Monty") Widenius, primary author of the original MySQL database and one of the company's founders, turned in his resignation to Sun yesterday. For those inside the MySQL team at Sun, this will likely prove bittersweet.

Bitter, because Monty has been such an important architect to the MySQL database's technical success. Sweet, because Monty sometimes took public positions against MySQL AB, the company that has been attempting to profit from the database.

Monty was involved in Drizzle, the MySQL fork that need not have been (and, in my opinion, should not have been). Monty publicly came out swinging against MySQL's plans to offer commercial extensions to the core MySQL database, contradicting and complicating the company's decision.

At this point, however, Monty has done the right thing with his dissent. He has taken it outside the company, as Arjen Lentz, MySQL's twenty-fifth employee, did before him. Arjen continues to be both a promoter and critic of MySQL, but is able to do so publicly without the constraints of an employee agreement.

I assume Monty will do the same, and rightly so. I'm sure MySQL/Sun will welcome Monty's feedback on both product and revenue strategy. But it will be a bit more palatable to have that coming from outside the company, rather than appearing to come from inside the company, in contradiction to the company's public position.

I, for one, wish Monty the best. He has been a great asset to MySQL as an employee. No doubt he will continue to be such as an interested observer outside the company. So what's behind Door Number Three, Monty?

[The_Decider]

That is what is wrong with American companies. Dissent against bad ideas are not tolerated.<br /><br />What you get when you have a company that forces its employees to march in step is Microsoft.

[ballero2]

Monty's problem is he could never get over his own ego. Inside MySQL, he's known as someone who simply takes credit for work, but never goes any. So the "problem with American companies is they don't tolerate dissent," wasn't the issue he. It's that they didn't tolerate someone who just sat around snarking vs. driving progress.

[Patrick Galbraith]

Hello there. Part of me wants to reach out and choke this commenter. I don't normally reply to comments on site, but this is my friend and colleague you are talking nonsense about!<br /><br />I have known Monty for 10 years now, and am a good friend of his. This doesn't affect my objectivity though, I can honestly think about this. <br /><br />We all have our egos. Your comment displays and ego of it's own. <br /><br />Monty started MySQL with David, so if he has an ego, only such that he cares about the direction of MySQL, he deserves to have an ego. But the only ego I've seen with Monty is that he cares about what he created. <br /><br />As far as taking credit for other's work: that's complete ********. Provide an example instead of ad hominem fallacies. <br /><br />Monty is also very selfless, the kind of guy who would give you his shirt of his back.<br /><br />I may have worked with you and in fact know you, but your comment is quite offensive to me. <br /><br />Signed: Patrick Galbraith, AKA CaptTofu

[Patrick Galbraith]

Hello there. Part of me wants to reach out and choke this commenter. I don't normally reply to comments on site, but this is my friend and colleague you are talking nonsense about!<br /><br />I have known Monty for 10 years now, and am a good friend of his. This doesn't affect my objectivity though, I can honestly think about this. <br /><br />We all have our egos. Your comment displays and ego of it's own. <br /><br />Monty started MySQL with David, so if he has an ego, only such that he cares about the direction of MySQL, he deserves to have an ego. But the only ego I've seen with Monty is that he cares about what he created. <br /><br />As far as taking credit for other's work: that's complete ********. Provide an example instead of ad hominem fallacies. <br /><br />Monty is also very selfless, the kind of guy who would give you his shirt of his back.<br /><br />I may have worked with you and in fact know you, but your comment is quite offensive to me. <br /><br />Signed: Patrick Galbraith, AKA CaptTofu

[linuxluvr]

I disagree with Patrick. "give you the shirt off his back"?? Monty made millions off the acquisition and shared nothing with the employees. He's always got opinions and threats, and suffocates debate when it disagrees with his point of view. He is arrogant and plays employees off one another to maximize his personal prestige.<br /><br />We need to have open and honest dialog about the direction of the product line and the organization, and Monty was always too busy hanging on to the past to participate in discussions of the future.

[igorbabaev]

To linuxluvr:<br /><br />It would be nice if you could open us your real name as Patrick Galbraith did it.<br /><br />I worked with Monty for the last 6 years and did not notice anything you accuse him of.<br /><br />And I can confirm that his ego was below average for MySQL employees. <br /><br />Regards,<br />Igor Babaev<br />Principal Engineer, MySQL Architect.<br />Sun Microsystems.

[Brian_Aker_82]

Hi!<br /><br />I've worked at MySQL for 5.5 years and have been working with the project for a decade. Monty has been the source of great debates and intellectual fun throughout this time. I have won and lost debates over the years but never did I sense that debate was not possible.<br /><br />I feel sorry for the hidden commenters who did not feel that had the ability to handle engineering debates. It means they lost out on what was a lot of the fun over the last few years. If the commenters are not engineers, then I believe they never picked up on why engineers debate, instead of following the latest and greatest. <br /><br />You make friends while working at companies, and I am happy to call Monty one. Whatever his roll in the future may be, I am looking forward to working with him. <br /><br />Cheers, <br /> -Brian<br /> <br />BTW And Matt, I am looking forward to the day when you finally "get" Drizzle :)

[fedecarg]

Matt is pro-Microsoft and Drizzle doesn't support Windows. Coincidence?

[BlackReindeer]

Looks like there is still a chance that Monty won't leave Sun: <a class="jive-link-external" href="http://www.tietoviikko.fi/infra_docview.jsp?f_id=1408820" target="_newWindow">http://www.tietoviikko.fi/infra_docview.jsp?f_id=1408820</a>

[xaprb]

Matt, I think it would be a gentlemanly thing to mention that Monty has still not resigned, even though several of your blog posts have seemed to say the opposite. And practically half the internet links to this article as proof that he has, so visitors clicking through might appreciate an editorial note that it's not really confirmed. (At least as far as I've heard to date.)