all very good points. And I felt a little bit of bile in my mouth, myself, when I realized, several years ago, the true
developmentand business model behind MySQL. Also, the HODGEPODGE way they added features from other development
projects.
But others are right. We need someone like IBM is to Linux, or Apple is to Konqueror. Someone who puts a lot of time
andmoney into the product for their own selfish interests, but then releases it.
Josh Berkus wrote:
> Dennis,
>
>
>>MySQL AB is going 'toes up'? Or was that a 'what if'?
>
>
> That was a "what if".
>
> My point is simply that:
>
> Given: MySQL Project is completely dependant on MySQL AB
> Given: MySQL AB is a small company.
> Given: MySQL AB has demonstrated near-catastrophic bad business
> decisions in the past (i.e. NuSphere).
> Given: MySQL AB just received $19 mil in venture capital, which the
> funders will expect a large return on -- and promptly.
> Given: Even well-managed small companies are frequently subsumed by giant
> software corporations.
> ---------------------------------------
> Conclusion: MySQL users should be worried about what might happen to MySQL,
> the project, in the future, based on what happens to MySQL AB. And they,
> like SAP-DB, should be prepared to fork the GPL code.
>