Re: PG vs MySQL

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On Monday 29 March 2004 06:33 am, Marc G. Fournier wrote:
> On Mon, 29 Mar 2004, Alex wrote:
> > Uwe in a mail mentioned his so called "fake type of hybrid license like
> > MySQL". I wonder if postgres isn't following the same (natural) path (of
> > the money).
>
> How so? There are no financial requirements when using PostgreSQL, nor
> will there ever be ... there are several *support* companies out there
> that you can pay for support, but it isn't a requirement to use either ...
>

The "fake" in MySQL is that, as discussed a thousand times, you can't use it
in any commercial project without buying a license. With MySQL you either use
GPL, or proprietary commercial licenses. Since this includes all client libs
a system like OpenOffice can offer MySQL support, StarOffice basically can't
since it's not under GPL.
I used the work "fake" here because it's pretty much like those "free checking
bank accounts". You have no idea when you will be charged a fee. Since the
legal side of when a license has to be bought for MySQL isn't really clear, I
decided against using or supporting MySQL. This dual policy of "unless it's
100% GPL what you're doing, buy a license" is very hard to follow. Where is
the line of 100% GPL ? Legally my lawyer thinks that MySQL AB could enforce
the "buy a license" if you write a closed source application in PHP. Usually
the GPL ends at the interpreter. However if you write the PHP app to require
MySQL, then you could be busted. Ok, nobody ever heard of someone who was
forced to buy a license for that - but if there is a lot of money in it,
companies suddenly turn around (see SCO vs. IBM and the rest of the world)

So I rather stick with a database that is not only technically superior, but
also guarantees that neither my company, nor any of our cutomers ever has to
pay for the database. They can elect to buy support from us or from any other
company offering PostgreSQL support. But they don't HAVE TO.

UC

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