RSSSun to spend $1B to acquire MySQL, will compete with Oracle, Microsoft
By Scott M. Fulton, III | Published January 16, 2008, 12:12 PM
One of the principal products in the LAMP open source arsenal will become a Sun Microsystems product, possibly by the end of this quarter.
When discussing enterprise database installations worldwide, as of today, it will be impossible not to consider Sun Microsystems along with Microsoft and Oracle. This morning, Sun announced it has reached an agreement with MySQL -- which by some accounts may have become the producer of the most widely installed database, under everyone's noses -- in a deal expected to be closed as soon as this March.
"Until now, no platform vendor has assembled all the core elements of a completely open source operating system for the Internet," Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz wrote for this blog this morning. "No company has been able to deliver a comprehensive alternative to the leading proprietary OS. With this acquisition, we will have done just that: positioned Sun at the center of the Web, as the definitive provider of high performance platforms for the Web economy."
Where does MySQL go from here?
The deal is tentatively valued at $800 million in cash, plus options currently valued at $200 million. MySQL will become integrated into Sun's existing software line, according to this morning's statement, which would appear to imply that the database producer will not become a division of Sun. And this morning's statement referring solely to MySQL CEO Marten Mickos as joining Sun's executive team, in a yet-to-be-named capacity, would appear to suggest the possibility of attrition at MySQL.
Both of these suggestions may be news to some at MySQL, however, including its legendary executive vice president, Zack Urlocker, who a few decades ago helped catalyze the entire drive toward object-oriented programming while at Borland International. In a blog post this morning published by InfoWorld, Urlocker wrote, "Marten will continue to run MySQL inside of Sun. The founders and management team are on board."
"In the past few weeks I've had the opportunity to spend time with many folks over at Sun ranging from top execs to distinguished engineers and marketing managers," Urlocker also wrote. "All of them talk the talk and walk the walk. They understand open source. They understand innovation. They understand communities. And they understand what MySQL brings to the table. They are a straightforward bunch; no game playing. And their commitment to open source is as deep as any I've seen. For Sun it's not a religious issue, but it is part of an overall strategy to change the world. What could be better?"
A similar feeling was expressed by MySQL VP of Community Relations Kaj Arno, in a pair of blog posts this morning. Arno wrote, "It was my firm impression that the Sun guys we met have high expectations regarding what the MySQL founders can continue to contribute to the future of Sun."
Arno also mentioned two founding MySQL executives and co-authors specifically, Michael "Monty" Widenius and David Axmark, saying, "I can see their heritage being in good hands at Sun." Widenius authored the original implementation of MySQL...on Solaris. Since that time, it's been implemented in a flurry of languages and on a virtual planet full of platforms, often by MySQL AB, sometimes by others.
"Anxiety on the part of MySQL users may stem from Sun's success with Java and Solaris," added Arno. "Will MySQL's support for other programming languages and operating systems now be given less attention? Absolutely not. MySQL is still being managed by the same people, and the charter is still the same. There is no need for reducing the set of platforms or languages. It only makes sense for us to continue to support de facto Web development standards like LAMP, as well as emerging ones like Ruby and Eclipse. This deal is about addition, not subtraction."
Next: Will MySQL remain open...if it's "open" now?
Dear Sun,
Please don't f**k up MySQL in the name of marketing or Java or whatever? Please keep it open source and keep it moving forward.
Sincerely,
Average Developer Guy
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|The market like this news. Sun (JAVA) up 10%+ since the released of this news. 10%+ is a lot consider the general market is down.
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|this is the day mysql died...
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|Actually this is the day when people post foolish nonsense. MySQL will be just fine.
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|Sad day indeed.
MySQL goes more cooperate.
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|Oh boo hoo...
With Sun's support behind it this can only help the program. It's not like they are going to start charging you for it.
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|seriously. if anything, maybe they'll add some developers of their own to the stack or some proper open source tools for managing and monitoring dbs on the gui in java so it works the same across platforms. i really can only see good things coming out of this. right now the tools available are iffy in stability and use at best
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|"With this acquisition, we will have done just that: positioned Sun at the center of the Web, as the definitive provider of high performance platforms for the Web economy."
OK - last time I checked - when you give something away for free- you don't make any money. That's how a lot of the dotcom companies went bust.
Is Sun giving us a hint here?
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|support isn't free. MySQL offers enterprise support services for thousands of dollars, similar to Oracle, only you don't HAVE to choose them. You can opt out and still have the enterprise build of MySQL, you just wont get their advanced monitoring tools and live technical support
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|No! Just no.
If that happens it's going to be so s***.
"All of them talk the talk and walk the walk. They understand open source. They understand innovation. They understand communities. And they understand what MySQL brings to the table."
On the other hand, however, they don't understand grammar.
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|Open Office, Java, Solaris, the Ultra SPARC. Sun has contributed a ton to the open source community. Sun the company may not be everyone's favorite player, but no one can deny that they have made some cool stuff in their day which to this day is still a vital part of the enterprise world. If it increases the pace of new MySQL releases I'm all for it. I've been waiting on 5.1 to go production for what seems like an eternity.
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|OO = minority
Java = slow and rubbish
Solaris = minority
Ultra SPARC = not used terribly much any more except in servers (could be wrong on this one).
*If* they don't make it hog resources like there's no tomorrow that should be ok, but I wouldn't count on it.
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|So because OpenOffice isn't used by as many people as Microsoft Office that makes it bad somehow? Linux and MacOS are minority systems, they must suck too going by your logic. As for Solaris, you do know that it's the leading operating system for large corporations, right? It's not a consumer desktop OS so don't try to compare them. It's mainly used for servers, datacenters, etc. Finally about Java being slow it depends on the program. If a retarded monkey writes the program it's going to be slow regardless of the language they use. I've had no trouble at all with it myself.
I fail to see how any of that means that they are going to hurt MySQL. Because we all know having a lot of money thrown at your project is such a horrible thing. I can't see anything bad coming from this. They've been very good to the open source community and given us things like the new ZFS file system, now being ported to FreeBSD, Linux, OSX, etc.
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|"Java = slow and rubbish"
you lost me there.
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|I'm not saying they suck.
I'm saying Sun don't have to deal with products that have a large market share often, and when they do (in the case of Java) they've made it slow and large.
"Linux and MacOS are minority systems, they must suck too..."
I'm talking about Sun's programs; not any other company's.
I hope they do it justice, but I'm not going to put money on it.
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|"I'm saying Sun don't have to deal with products that have a large market share often"
...beautiful, a composition prize should be awarded to you
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|"I'm saying Sun don't have to deal with products that have a large market share often"
Solaris
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