Oracle and MySQL: It's all about Microsoft
Oracle is determined to keep MySQL if it acquires Sun, but the reason likely has little to do with open source and everything to do with Microsoft. Oracle doesn't compete with open source. Not really. Open source is simply a means to an end, and in the case of MySQL, a means to denting Microsoft's rising strength in emerging markets where Oracle's expensive database technology doesn't resonate.
In fact, in a recent survey by Evans Data, over 50 percent of developers in the emerging markets of China, India, Eastern Europe, and Latin America use Microsoft's SQL Server, compared to 46 percent using MySQL.
Oracle database technology? It's used, but not nearly as extensively.
MySQL gives Oracle a club with which to beat Microsoft. It's not about open source. It's about the MySQL developer community and its competitive price point, two things that Microsoft also has going for it. Arguably, though, open source provides Oracle a strong competitive differentiator against Microsoft in these markets.
Even so, I think we'll eventually see open source aiding both sides in this battle, as Microsoft learns to drop its acrimonious stance toward open source and instead strategically embrace it, as IBM, Oracle, and others have done before it.
Oracle can't afford to abandon MySQL. It's the key to unlocking its ability to effectively compete with Microsoft in tomorrow's big markets.
Matt Asay brings a decade of in-the-trenches open-source business and legal experience to The Open Road, with an emphasis on emerging open-source business strategies and opportunities. Matt is vice president of business development at Alfresco, a company that develops open-source software for content management. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure. You can follow Matt on Twitter @mjasay. 
- by t8 October 1, 2009 4:45 PM PDT
- Business is business.
- Like this Reply to this comment
-
-
- by SirWeej October 2, 2009 3:56 AM PDT
- Maybe not so simple. I imagine that Ellison will modify the code to add features AND make it easy for developers to migrate to Oracle. So lets say he keeps it fairly simple and doesn't charge for it and developers make the slight modifications in their code. I imagine that Ellison at some point will be salivating at the 46% market share and eventually begin charging for the product.
- Like this
-
- by t8 October 3, 2009 4:45 AM PDT
- At which time developers will organise a fork or go with an already existing one.
- Like this
-
- by pentest October 5, 2009 8:21 PM PDT
- With the right libraries and some foresight in wrapping up problematic pieces, it is not a big deal moving to another DB.
- Like this
-
(8 Comments)If MySQL suffers then it will be forked.
If not, then things will continue.
Simple.
Oracle know that MySQL will always have an expectation of free, and if that disappears then developers will move from the last free version (GPL code) and take it from there.
What is a big deal is moving from free to the outrageous cost of Oracle.