I hope the only reason this thread is so quiet is because we are all busy notifying our friends. There are a hell of a lot more users invested in MySQL than those who read this list. Spread the word!
Monty is not asking us to help him: he is asking you to help yourselves. MySQL has never been more important than it is today! - michael dykman On Sat, Dec 12, 2009 at 5:29 PM, Michael Widenius <michael.widen...@gmail.com> wrote: > > Subject: Help saving MySQL from Oracle! > > I, Michael "Monty" Widenius, the creator of MySQL, is asking you > urgently to help save MySQL from Oracle's clutches. Without your > immediate help Oracle might get to own MySQL any day now. By writing > to the European Commission (EC) you can support this cause and make > things much harder for Oracle. > > What this text is about: > - Summary of what is happening > - What Oracle has not promised > - Oracles past behavior with Open Source > - Help spread this information (Jump to 'What I want to ask you to do') > - Example of email to send to the commission (Jump to 'send this to:') > > I have spent the last 27 years creating and working on MySQL and I > hope, together with my team of MySQL core developers, to work on > it for many more years. > > Oracle is trying to buy Sun, and since Sun bought MySQL last year, > Oracle would then own MySQL. With your support, there is a good chance > that the EC (from which Oracle needs approval) could prevent this from > happening. Without your support, it might not. The EC is our last big > hope now because the US government approved the deal while Europe is > still worried about the effects. > > Instead of just working out this with the EC and agree on appropriate > remedies to correct the situation, Oracle has instead contacted > hundreds of their big customers and asked them to write to the EC and > require unconditional acceptance of the deal. According what I been > told, Oracle has promised to the customers, among other things, that > "they will put more money into MySQL development than what Sun did" > and that "if they would ever abandon MYSQL, a fork will appear and > take care of things". > > However just putting money into development is not proof that anything > useful will ever be delivered or that MySQL will continue to be a > competitive force in the market as it's now. > > As I already blogged about before, > http://monty-says.blogspot.com/2009/10/importance-of-license-model-of-mysql-or.html, > a fork is not enough to keep MySQL alive for all future, if Oracle, as > the copyright holder of MySQL, would at any point decide that they should > kill MySQL or make parts of MySQL closed source. > > Oracle claims that it would take good care of MySQL but let's face the > facts: Unlike ten years ago, when MySQL was mostly just used for the web, > it has become very functional, scalable and credible. Now it's used in > many of the world's largest companies and they use it for an increasing > number of purposes. This not only scares but actually hurts Oracle every > day. Oracle salespeople have to lower prices all the time to compete with > MySQL when companies start new projects. Some companies even migrate > existing projects from Oracle to MySQL to save money. Of course Oracle has > a lot more features, but MySQL can already do a lot of things for which > Oracle is often used and helps people save a lot of money. Over time MySQL > can do to Oracle what the originally belittled Linux did to commercial > Unix (roughly speaking). > > So I just don't buy it that Oracle will be a good home for MySQL. A > weak MySQL is worth about one billion dollars per year to Oracle, > maybe more. A strong MySQL could never generate enough income for > Oracle that they would want to cannibalize their real cash cow. I > don't think any company has ever done anything like that. That's why > the EC is skeptical and formalized its objections about a month ago. > > Richard Stallman agrees that it's very important which company owns MySQL, > that Oracle should not be allowed to buy it and that it can't just be > taken care of by a community of volunteers: http://keionline.org/ec-mysql > > Oracle has NOT promised (as far as I know and certainly not in a legally > binding manner) that: > > - They keep (all of) MySQL under an open source license > - Not add closed source parts, modules or required tools. > - To not rise MySQL license or MySQL support prices > - To release new MySQL versions in a regular and timely manner. > - To continue with dual licensing and always provide affordable commercial > licenses to MySQL to those who needs them (to storage vendors > and application vendors) or provide MySQL under a more permissive license > - To develop MySQL as an Open Source project > - To actively work with the community > - Apply submitted patches in a timely manner > - Not discriminate patches that makes MySQL compete more with Oracles > other products. > - To ensure that MySQL is improved also in manners that make it compete > even more with Oracles' main offering. > > From looking at how Oracle handled the InnoDB acquisition, I don't > have high hopes that Oracle will do the above right if not required to > do so: > > For InnoDB: > - Bug fixes where done (but this was done under a contractual obligation) > - New features, like compression that was announced before acquisition, took > 3 years to implement > - No time tables or insight into development > - The community where not allowed to participate in development > - Patches from users (like Google) that would have increased performance was > not implemented/released until after Oracle announced it was acquiring Sun. > - Oracle started working on InnoDB+, a better 'closed source' version of > InnoDB > - In the end Sun had to fork InnoDB, just to be able to improve performance. > > It's true that development did continue, but this was more to be able > to continue using InnoDB as a pressure on MySQL Ab. > > Note that Oracle's development on the Linux kernel is not comparable > with MySQL, because: > - Oracle is using Linux as the main platform for their primary database > product (and thus a better Linux makes Oracles platform better) > - The GPL code in the kernel is not affecting what is running on top on it > (because of an exception in Linux). > > Because we don't have access to a database of MySQL customers and > users the only way we can get the word out is to use the MySQL and > Open Source community. I would never have resorted to this if Oracle > would not have broken the well established rules in anticompetitive > merger cases and try to influence the EC by actively mobilising the > customers. > > This is very critical to this AS SOON AS POSSIBLE as EC, depending on > what Oracle is doing, needs to make a decision either on Monday > (2009-12-14) or within two weeks. Becasue of the strict deadline, > every email counts! > > What I want to ask you to do (until 2009-12-19): > > - Forward this email to everyone that you know is using MySQL or Open > Source/free software and to all email list where you know there are > people present that use or care about MySQL and open source (please check > first that this email hasn't been sent there before) > - Alternatively send emails with information about this and tell them to read > http://monty-says.blogspot.com/2009/12/help-saving-mysql.html > - Add links on your web site to > http://monty-says.blogspot.com/2009/12/help-saving-mysql.html with the text > "We are using MySQL, help save it", for the > duration of the next two week. > - Blog about this (feel free to include this text or just link to my blog) > - Call by phone (don't contact by email, this is urgent) your boss or VP > and ask him to read this email and send a letter to the EC commission ASAP! > - If you don't have anyone to contact above, send an email to the EC! > > As we want the EC to get a correct picture of the situation, we want > you to first fill in the upper part and then choose one of the > proposed texts belove that best matches your view of the > situation. Feel free to supply your own text and additional > information if you think this will help the EC to reach a better > understanding of how MySQL is used. > > Send this to: comp-merger-regis...@ec.europa.eu > > If you have extra time to help, fill in the following, if not, just skip > to the main text. > > Name: > Title: > Company: > Size of company: > How many MySQL installations: > Total data stored in MySQL (megabyte): > For what type of applications is MySQL used: > Should this email be kept confidential by EC: Yes/No > > Copy or use one of the below texts as a base for your answer: > > a) > I don't trust that Oracle will take good care of MySQL and MySQL > should be divested to another company or foundation that have > everything to gain by developing and promoting MySQL. One should also > in the future be able to combine MySQL with closed source application > (either by exceptions, a more permissive license or be able to dual > license MySQL under favourable terms) > > b) > > I think that Oracle could be a good steward of MySQL, but I would need > EC to have legally binding guarantees from Oracle that: > - All of MySQL will continue to be fully Open Source/free software in > the future (no closed source modules) > - That development will be done in community friendly way. > - The manual should be released under a permissive license (so that one > can fork it, the same way one can fork the server) > - That MySQL should be released under a more permissive license to > ensure that forks can truly compete with Oracle if Oracle is not a > good steward after all. > Alternatively: > - One should be able to always buy low priced commercial licenses for MySQL. > > There should also be mechanism so that if Oracle is not doing > what is expected of it, forks should be able to compete with Oracle > > c) > I trust Oracle and I suggest that EC will approve the deal unconditionally. > > > -------------------- > > Let us prove to Oracle and EC that the Open Source community is a true > force and we take good care of our citizens and we prefer to work with > companies that does the same! > > The future of MySQL is in your hands! > > Thanks for the help! > Michael Widenius > Creator of MySQL > > -- > MySQL General Mailing List > For list archives: http://lists.mysql.com/mysql > To unsubscribe: http://lists.mysql.com/mysql?unsub=mdyk...@gmail.com > > -- - michael dykman - mdyk...@gmail.com "May you live every day of your life." Jonathan Swift Larry's First Law of Language Redesign: Everyone wants the colon. -- MySQL General Mailing List For list archives: http://lists.mysql.com/mysql To unsubscribe: http://lists.mysql.com/mysql?unsub=arch...@jab.org
