Re: Ammunition

To me, the big MySQL issue is that it isn't an open source development
project, just a company that distributes code via open source. They
will never be able to keep up with us.

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Christopher Browne wrote:
> acc(at)anthonychavez(dot)org writes:
> > The main reason that I chose PostgreSQL as my focus all these years
> > is a simple (and important) one: ACID compliance. But beyond that,
> > I'm clueless. I don't have as much exposure to MySQL as I should.
> > So any pointers and ammo that you can offer would certainly be
> > appreciated.
>
> I think the idea is to instead ask pointed questions.
>
> A good start is to ask about what is going on with the licensing
> changes, and whether this is really compatible with "free software."
>
> After all, the makers of Linux don't expect that you buy a commercial
> license to Linux in order to use it in commercial contexts. Nor do
> the makers of OpenOffice.org, GNOME, KDE, GTk, or GCC. Nor do the
> makers of FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD.
>
> What is it that makes MySQL AB so special that they should _expect_ to
> be paid $450/box for "commercial use" when all these other prominent
> free software projects don't make such demands?
>
> The other place to be pointed is in asking what's up with the SAP-DB
> "integration" effort. Some interesting things there:
>
> -> Some users of SAP-DB are very concerned about the licensing
> changes, as their business model involved using SAP-DB as
> licensing-fee-free software, just like Linux and other free
> software.
>
> -> Some SAP-DB users have considered developing their own ODBC/JDBC
> drivers and licensing them under the LGPL so that client software
> would not have to be licensed under the GPL. What do they think
> of that idea?
>
> -> In what way will SAP-DB be likely to replace any or all of the
> existing MySQL code base?
>
> My suspicion is that this integration project might easily be the
> death of the company, as it seems quite risky. The code base for
> SAP-DB is quite scary; lots of old legacy mainframe code in there.
> Changing the SAP-DB code to conform with what MySQL needs strikes me
> as being a potentially huge morass. And if they get into any sort of
> "morass," that'll eat the $19.5M of capital pretty quick.
>
> I just can't see what would get "integrated." Pulling in chunks of
> SAP-DB code to provide implementations of things that MySQL is missing
> seems just supremely unlikely. The only way for it to _actually_ work
> is for them to (say) replace the whole MySQL backend with SAP-DB.
>
> Of course, if they do _that_, it begs the question of why. Why, if
> MySQL AB's engine is good, would MySQL AB want to throw away their own
> engine in favor of someone else's?
>
> I'm quite honestly curious as to what the "endgame" is supposed to be
> with MySQL+SAP-DB. All the ones I can imagine seem strange.
>
> I'm intentionally suggesting that you ask questions, as opposed to
> "Here's why PostgreSQL is better!" arguments. It's likely NOT in good
> taste to try to steal thunder by doing direct PG advocacy.
>
> I have been at LUG meetings where someone (who shall remain nameless,
> since his name resembles that of a regular participant here, and the
> confusion would just cause grief, especially since that participant
> signs my expense and vacation forms :-)) heckled assorted speakers who
> spoke on Java and Python, because he's immensely excited about some of
> the upcoming Perl 6 technology. The heckler irritated practically
> everyone by virtually trying to hijack the talk. Don't be him :-).
> --
> "cbbrowne","@","cbbrowne.com"
> http://www.ntlug.org/~cbbrowne/advocacy.html
> Error: Keyboard not attached. Press F1 to continue.
>
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> TIP 8: explain analyze is your friend
>

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