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January 22, 2008

Sun to buy MySQL, Part One

Unless you've been under a rock, you know Sun is buying MySQL AB. That was news, last week. But it was also rather puzzling news, in many ways, and worth taking some time out to consider the implications.

So, for Part One of my coverage of the Sun/MySQL deal, I'm mostly going to offer a bunch of links. For example, the Yahoo! News breaking news story: Sun to buy MySQL for $1 billion. You get the basics of the deal here, but you also get some of the issues spelled out for you: Sun is a "server maker"; meaning, they're a hardware company. Other key points to consider:

  • Sun expects to spread MySQL into big corporations, who already buy Sun hardware, as well as bolster existing Sun partnerships such as those with IBM and Dell.
  • Sun is a software company, too, and an open source software company at that. They, like IBM, see offering open source software as a selling point for their hardware.
  • MySQL is dwarfed by the competition from Oracle and Microsoft who dominate in the traditional database market, but MySQL owns the web database market, which is growing (while the more traditional market may be stagnating).

The Yahoo! article gives a pretty good precis of the situation, but you need to dig a little deeper to figure out what exactly is going on. For example, they don't say much about the extent to which Sun controls some very important pieces of software already, including Java, OpenSolaris, StarOffice, NetBeans, and more. Nor do they mention Sun's existing relationship with the other star open source DBMS project, PostgreSQL. For more about Sun, MySQL and PostgreSQL, check out Sun buys MySQL - what about PostgreSQL?, and Sun Purchasing MySQL and PostgreSQL advances from PostgreSQL.

Check back next week for my take on the implications and impact this deal with ultimately have, but in the meantime, here are some of the more interesting articles/blog entries I've found in the past few days about it:

For the record, the official press releases here:

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October 23, 2007

New Open Source Business Model using Eclipse

It's starting. The new wave of new businesses, built on new models for making money while using and supporting free/open source software.

Eclipse is "an open source community whose projects are focused on building an open development platform comprised of extensible frameworks, tools and runtimes for building, deploying and managing software across the lifecycle."

Even with massive improvements since I first wrote about it in The Value of Eclipse for the Open Source Community almost two years ago, Eclipse can still be confusing and complicated to get up and running.

Some see that as an obstacle to an otherwise useful tool, but others, like the people at Genuitec saw an opportunity for a cool service, MyEclipse, a subscription based toolbox for enterprise Eclipse development.

MyEclipse subscriptions start at $31.75/year, but according to this article at eWeek, Eclipse Gains a Pulse, Genuitec next month plans to announce "PoweredByPulse, a free service that company executives said could become the de facto mechanism for provisioning software, whether commercial, free or mixed."

This is most encouraging: it means the long-anticipated model of providing services around open source software is getting real.

If you want to use Eclipse, it's free. You can figure it out on your own, spending your time; or you can purchase access to infrastructures for using and distributing software using Eclipse.

Genuitec is doing the heavy lifting to build the infrastructure, but they're keeping the costs down because the services are automated. So you get the best of both worlds, and if someone comes along and offers a better set of Eclipse-related services, you're free to jump ship.

What a concept: vendors compete based on the value proposition they offer, while not imposing proprietary software with its attendant vendor lock-in. Enterprise software consumers can decide on which vendor based on performance and quality, not whether or not they support some proprietary standards.

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July 12, 2007

Btrfs, Oracle's New Open Source Filesystem

Did you know that Oracle has a new open source filesystem project called Btrfs? According to Oracle:

... we are facing a number of challenges with scaling to the large storage subsystems that are becoming common in today's data centers. Filesystems need to scale in their ability to address and manage large storage, and also in their ability to detect, repair and tolerate errors in the data stored on disk.

Sure, there are already plenty of filesystems for Linux, but Btrfs is important for a couple of reasons, even if, at this early stage in development, "Btrfs is not suitable for any uses other than benchmarking and review."

Number one, it's a good reminder that Oracle actually is giving back to the open source community. Check out Oracle's Open Source Software page for more about Oracle and free/open source software. And be sure to check out the list of projects hosted by Oracle.

And number two, it's a good reminder of the kind of value that a commercial/proprietary software vendor can add with open source software while not diluting the value of their own proprietary software.

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May 27, 2007

IBM virtual Linux environment beta program

If you want to see what a virtual Linux environment looks like, check out the IBM System p Application Virtual Environment for x86 Linux. Follow the link to find out more about participating in the beta program (as well as more details about what it does and how it works).

Bill Andad at DANIWEB.com has more about it here.

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January 31, 2007

MySQL AB to Go Public

Computer Business Review Online is reporting that open source vendor MySQL is getting ready to go public in MySQL prepares for IPO and reveals Oracle endorsement.

According to the article, MySQL CEO Marten Mickos told CBR Online that although MySQL still hasn't spent more than half of the VC money it's already raised, they may be ready to roll out an IPO by the end of this year.

Read the article, and, discuss.

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December 7, 2006

Just How Much Indemnification Does Oracle Linux Give You?

Oracle outlines the details of its indemnification program (warning: link to PDF document).

A couple of items of interest here. First, open source blogger Matt Asay made some interested points under the headng Just what is Oracle indemnifying, anyway after he read Oracle's license and then read the description of their indemnification program (see above).

Worth reading. My favorite line was the last one of Oracle's statement, "NOTE: NO CONTRACTUAL OBLIGATIONS ARE FORMED EITHER DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY BY THIS DOCUMENT." All capitals, all italicized.

I'm certainly not a lawyer, so don't ask me what it means--ask your lawyer if you are considering Oracle's deal.

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December 4, 2006

Linux, Oracle, Red Hat, Novell and Microsoft

The open source turbulence generated last month by Oracle and Microsoft's moves on Linux is slowly but surely clearing. I've been looking at the issues in some depth for full-length articles to be published here in the next month or so. But at the moment it's kind of tough to figure out what exactly it all means.

Rather than try to figure it all out as it happens, I'm going to be pointing to some of the particulars of the issues here in my blog.

As a starter, here are links to some of the key announcements from Microsoft, Novell, Red Hat and Oracle:

Oracle Unbreakable Enterprise Linux announcement on October 25.

Red Hat Unfakeable Linux response to Oracle's entry into the Linux market (with a rebadged version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux).

"Microsoft and Novell Announce Broad Collaboration on Windows and Linux Interoperability and Support", the broad outline of Microsoft's deal with Novell, from November 2.

We Believe response from Red Hat to the Microsoft/Novell announcement on November 2; here's an FAQ from Microsoft on agreement and a resource page on the deal from Microsoft.

Novell's resource page for the Microsoft/Novell collaboration. Here's Novell's Open Letter to the Community dated November 20, in response to Steve Ballmer's comments about the possibility that Linux incorporates Microsoft intellectual property.

Microsoft announces that they "agree to disagree" with Novell on November 20, after the first wave of controversy unleashed by Ballmer's statement that Linux users owe Microsoft for intellectually property.

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November 8, 2006

Oracle, Microsoft, Red Hat and Novell

Just in case you're looking for the low-down on what Oracle's announcement of Unbreakable Linux and Red Hat's "We Believe" and Unfakeable Linux responses mean, and how Microsoft and Novell fit in with their news, about Microsoft support for SUSE Linux, check back here in the coming days.

I've downloaded Oracle Linux, and will be giving it the once-over in the coming days, while also applying the microscope to the fine print everyone's license agreements. So check back here! And let me know if you have specific questions that need to be answered, so I'll know what I need to find out for you!

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October 26, 2006

Oracle to Red Hat: "Drop Dead"

Well, the Oracle Linux shoe has finally dropped: Larry Ellison announced Oracle Unbreakable Linux in his closing keynote address at OpenWorld conference in San Francisco yesterday afternoon.

No more speculation about Oracle offering its own open source OS (see, More Rumors about Oracle Linux and
Oracle to Microsoft: Drop Dead?).

It's what open source naysayers have been warning about for years: what happens when a big commercial software company decides to sell their open source competitor's software? As I wrote in Enterprising Linux in July, Red Hat already tolerates the re-use of its Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) in projects like CentOS and Scientific Linux.

Oracle is going to re-package RHEL, stripping off the Red Hat-proprietary stuff (same as CentOS et al do), and sell support--which is EXACTLY what Red Hat sells. And at a discount: current Oracle customers can get a free trial until January 31, 2007, and everyone gets a 50% discount on the product until then. The new Oracle product is already priced lower than Red Hat's offering.

Red Hat has to be worried now that one of the world's biggest and baddest software companies announced plans to eat Red Hat's lunch. Red Hat shares dropped almost by a quarter in early trading as the analysts raced to downgrade Red Hat.

Red Hat won't roll over, though. They've already posted a response to Oracle's move, UNFAKEABLE LINUX. It's a must-read for anyone considering Oracle's offering.

Surprisingly, though, in the long run this may prove a boon for Red Hat. I'm not just playing the over-confident open source cheerleader here; for now, I'll just suggest some possibilities:

  • Oracle's move gives a huge credibility boost to Linux in general, and RHEL in particular, now that a major mainstream software player supports it.
  • Red Hat, facing a serious competitor in the Linux support business, must get very serious about adding more value to their own products.
  • Oracle's customers who wouldn't previously have considered Red Hat as a vendor will now be forced to consider Red Hat as Oracle starts selling RHEL support.

There's more, and I'll have more to say about this development in the coming weeks, but in the meantime, let me know what you think might become of Red Hat, Oracle and Linux in general.

Posted by at 8:45 AM | | Comments (0)

October 20, 2006

More Rumors about Oracle Linux

It makes sense that a company selling a full-spectrum of business intellgence/database management software would want to be able to package it all together from the OS on up. And the world continues to speculate on the possibility that Oracle might just be getting ready to do that (see my previous post, Oracle to Microsoft: Drop Dead?).

Computer Business Review/Online ran another article about the possibility just a few days ago, Oracle Linux rumor puts pressure on Red Hat. The biggest news is that now an analyst with investment bank Jefferies and Co is repeating the rumor that started circulating last April.

Whatever you think about Oracle, Linux and Microsoft, it's worth looking at the Slashdot.org discussion. If you don't mind sifting through the chaff, there's a lot of good wheat there.

For one thing, if Oracle were to offer an Oracle-tweaked and optimized Linux distribution, it would likely work better for more users out of the box. It would certainly be easier and faster to install on a new system.

For another thing, Oracle could partner wth a hardware company to offer a "complete database-backed application server in a box" product line, with OS, webserver, database, and whatever other (open source) software is necessary to deliver a turnkey product.

When the bottom is falling out of the market for software because so much high-qualty software is now available for free, smart software companies will get into the business of selling something else--whether it is turnkey hardware or software services (another possibility if Oracle goes down the Linux path).

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May 30, 2006

Oracle's Latest Open Source Release, Oracle Berkeley DB Java Edition 3.0

Oracle bought Sleepycat Software just a few months ago, and they've already released the first major revision to Sleepycat's Berkeley DB developer database, Berkeley DB Java Edition 3.0. Oracle now publishes the Berkeley DB (BDB) family of products, a.k.a.Oracle® Berkeley DB, under the kind of dual-licensing program that benefits the vendor as well the developers who use it.

Continue reading "Oracle's Latest Open Source Release, Oracle Berkeley DB Java Edition 3.0" »

Posted by at 8:26 AM | | Comments (1)

February 27, 2006

Greenplum Takes Next Commercial Open Source Step

The first wave of commercial open source companies depend on value-added support, services and packaging to generate profits; Greenplum is taking a new approach: offer a world-class open source project, the Bizgres Project as an entry point for a commercial enterprise-class version, Bizgres MPP.

Today they opened a new portal, The Bizgres Network, to make it simpler than ever to get started using and developing BI apps with Bizgres. In addition to binary downloads of their enterprise-class, multi-terabyte Bizgres MPP, the portal provides access to a knowledge base and other support facilities.

Greenplum's strategy is to get users started with open source Bizgres (based on PostgreSQL), or a 30-day trial of Bizgres MPP. Both versions of Bizgres work on commodity hardware, so scaling apps up is easy and inexpensive, and open source Bizgres apps are up-compatible to Bizgres MPP.

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