Will Oracle let MySQL keep its new enterprise chops?

MySQL 5.4 has just been announced, evaporating the open-source database's previous four cores per instance limitation. Now, as Betanews reports, MySQL can handle up to "16-processor ("16-way") support for x86 servers with multiple cores per processor."

In other words, MySQL, long the leader in Web-focused database applications, just became a serious contender in the enterprise. It's unlikely MySQL's new owner, Oracle, is going to welcome this news.

While Redmonk analyst Stephen O'Grady suggests that MySQL nicely complements Oracle in many ways, he's also right to note that "the Oracle sales force is going to dislike MySQL even more than the Sun sales force did, as it is a low margin product competing--at least in some sense--with a high margin staple."

Oracle has much to gain--and lose--from MySQL. It's an exceptionally well-managed company, so my bet is that Oracle will find ways to make MySQL work for it, not against it. I don't think we'll see MySQL used as an onramp for proprietary Oracle databases, similar to how IBM uses open-source projects like Geronimo to fuel WebSphere sales.

Rather, I believe Oracle will firmly position (and technologically ensure) MySQL as a Web database. Oracle owns InnoDB, after all, the primary storage engine for MySQL. The scalability upgrade I mention above? It depends upon InnoDB. Oracle, in other words, already has the means to constrain the markets to which MySQL is targeted. Expect it to do so.

Follow me on Twitter @mjasay.

[vikinzer]

It would be nice to see someone else do with mySQL what Oracle tried to do with unbreakable linux. Except instead of trying to beat them at their own game, do it and play the game Oracle doesn't want to play.

[Remo_Williams]

Enterprise is still Oracle-only. No one is doing serious warehousing and analytics with MySQL, nor should they. MySQL is a notable accomplishment but it doesn't match the level of Oracle's DB technology. You can't skip decades of experience.

-Remo

[totocalimero]

Amen.

MySQL is nice, but Oracle (the DB engine) definitely plays in a different league. I won't explain the technical details, but years of experience with databases has shown that the Oracle DB is simply a brilliant piece of engineering.

For those who are interested, have a look at how Oracle handles row level locks. Just that one feature is worth buying Oracle.

[psoreilly]

Enterprise is mostly Oracle only because it is a legacy there. Startups and small businesses that when successful become larger enterprises would choose Mysql because it is less expensive and does pretty much everything Oracle does and it is even a bit faster in some cases. I don't see how Mysql can exist under Oracle's roof, I hope the regulators look at the anticompetive aspect of this.

[gggg sssss]

Microsoft SQL server = more bang for the buck for 80% of the worlds data

[ewsachse]

Well spoken Remo.

Nor would I dump Oracle for MySQL for large OLTP applications. I speak from decades of experience with OLTP applications.

MySQL has its place in the market, but it is not the Swiss Army Knife of databases.

[svardb]

Remo,

There is many improvments in InnoDB regarding transactional locking, this is documented in the internals manuel and every body can read and improve the source code , in practice there is not so many case when MySQL does not do the job. Some alghorithmics features are lacking like sub queries optimization and batched key join but this will be adress in 5.4 and have nothing to do with the storage engines design.