Let me present what I've read from the MySQL site so far.
The MySQL protocol notice http://dev.mysql.com/doc/internals/en/licensing-notice.html Okay, really confusing. What if someone creates a mysql client without looking at docs or source code of the MySQL client? What if someone simply sniffs traffic and builds the protocol from scratch. This scenario can be compared to samba in my comparison. Samba also uses proprietary structures, but they didn't look at source or docs, they sniffed and built from scratch. Therefore, why is the MySQL AB throwing wool over people's eyes? Is this their view of the GPL? I remember reading on the GNU site a FAQ describing the GPL protocol... If people are going to preach Open Source Software and damn closed source software which tries to emulate open source protocols, what makes it any better ethically from closed source software?
