Re: Nusphere/MySQL-AB arguing

> For some reason I don't see any of these happening.
>
> For one, PostgreSQL isn't a dictatorship like many other open source projects
> (MySQL, the Linux Kernel, for two handy examples) are. It is an oligarchy,
> which in this case is not a bad thing, as the oligarchs (the 'Steering
> Committee' or 'core') are not all employed by one company.
>
> Contributions to PostgreSQL are accepted without requiring copyright transfer
> -- which is also a good thing.
>
> Altogether, this is one of the more open 'Open Source' projects -- and there
> is a real community feeling here.
> --

My guess is that Nusphere wants to create a MySQL community like ours.

Another aspect of the issue that Jan mentioned to me is that MySQL sells
a non-GPL version of MySQL. This doesn't have the GNU restrictions on
code additions, allowing proprietary binaries to be distributed like our
BSD license. They can do that because they have full copyright to the
code. Having an open-source community would prevent this. I am not
sure if Nusphere is distributing the GNU or non-GNU version of MySQL.
Perhaps that was part of their agreement with MySQL AB.

Overall, very confusing and sad to see.

--
Bruce Momjian | http://candle.pha.pa.us
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