Re: FW: [webmaster] Comparison to MySQL

Justin,

> Ouch.
>
> But yep, I'd say that's accurate too.

Well, we should consider the wording on this. However, I want to make the
point somewhere in a general comparison that MySQL and PostgreSQL are not
organizationally equal; PostgreSQL is a classic OSS project, and MySQL is a
private company which uses OSS as its distribution model. From our
perspective, our model is superior, and we want evaluators to understand that
there's a difference. Certainly MySQL AB will be presenting *their*
perspective on the issue, as they've had a "FAQ" in the past about why having
a one-company-dictatorship is an advantage (quality control, presumably).

It's also a very serious concern considering MySQL's current business
situation. It's entirely possible that within 2 years the MySQL trademark,
original copyright, and main developers could end up being owned by some
large tech corporation (e.g. SAP, etc.). Certainly anyone could take the
GPL code and run, but the track record of such forks has been very poor
(Firebird, SAP DB, etc.) -- both due to the lack of developers and the loss
of the trademark.

--
-Josh Berkus
Aglio Database Solutions
San Francisco