Comments on: Sun, Oracle, WordPress, and MySQL

By: Matt

Matt — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 13:44:47 +0000

There are no plans. MySQL is not a bottleneck for us.

By: goofydg1

goofydg1 — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 12:44:57 +0000

I’ve been reading a bit lately about large sites (Facebook, Digg) switching to Cassandra. Any more thoughts or info on WordPress being able to use other DB’s?

By: Rene Zijlstra

Rene Zijlstra — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 12:53:17 +0000

Maybe a bit off-topic, but I’d like to comment:
I don’t understand Frans’s comment about Oracle Exadata. I wonder how many people want to run WordPress on an Exadata environment. It’s a bit over the Top I think and Oracle’s licenses would cause your bankruptcy.
Oracle XE would be a great database to run WP. It’s free (non-commercial), tunable and understandable for every Oracle DBA (like me ). However, developing WP (or a plugin) requires good knowledge of PL/SQL and datamodelling . Without that, don’t even let it cross your mind.
Like many other WP users, I suffer from lack of performance. The causes for that is mainly NOT MySQL, but poorly written sql and datamodels. For example, statpress is a great plugin, but the column-datatypes are to cry your eyes out. So, when you create a plugin, performance must not be underestimated.
OK, enough whining. Great plugin. Just love it.
Merry Christmas!

By: Frans Hollander

Frans Hollander — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 20:55:54 +0000

As Oracle DBA I’m not concerned at all. I know Oracle database even better then mysql.
I can give you two more reasons for reassurance:
1. Oracle Exadata: they now have the hardware too. Together with a very optimized Oracle software you get Oracle exadata
2. As Oracle uses very much Java … well they now have it.

And Java was the main reason to take over Sun. So don’t worry about mysql.

By: tecosystems » The Open Database Alliance and the Future of MySQL

tecosystems » The Open Database Alliance and the Future of MySQL — Thu, 14 May 2009 19:03:52 +0000

[...] term implications, however, are far less clear. Already we’re seeing substantial community interest in the innovations to the codebase occurring externally, and this week’s news could [...]

By: Angelo

Angelo — Tue, 05 May 2009 18:28:11 +0000

It certainly would be a good idea to separate out the DB access enough that people can easily add their own layer to handle the operations. Actually I wouldn’t mind using a flat-file backend if possible. But the API for the DB queries still needs to be there.

By: Oracle acquires Sun - A week later | Governance Risk and Compliance, Going Green, Software-as-a-Service | PrudentCloud

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 19:54:01 +0000

[...] I am sure variants of the same topic might be in the millions. A couple of renowned bloggers Matt Mullenweg and Josh Greenbaum chime in with thoughts that are poles apart. I share some of thoughts from both. [...]

By: Matt

Matt — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 18:24:04 +0000

Thank you very much.

By: ivan

ivan — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 16:50:12 +0000

matt, i wrote a post about you as one of heroes of open source cms, i hope i get it right

By: Sun Sets on MySQL | I Do Info Tech

Sun Sets on MySQL | I Do Info Tech — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 07:08:01 +0000

[...] Sun, Oracle, WordPress and MySQL [...]

By: Gary

Gary — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 03:26:35 +0000

What I don’t quite ‘get’ about Oracle and MySQL is just why Oracle wants/needs MySQL. I’m not familiar with MySQL related financials however how does Oracle intend to make a financial profit from MySQL? or does MySQL offer some strategic advantage? Or, as you mention, EAS, is this a competitive strategy being employed by Oracle?

By: Glenn Nicholas

Glenn Nicholas — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 05:58:47 +0000

Perhaps this development makes the copyright situation on MySQL documentation a bit more of an issue. MySQL code is GPL, but the documentation is copyright.

MySQL 5.4 Feature Summary

This documentation is NOT distributed under a GPL license. Use of this documentation is subject to the following terms: You may create a printed copy of this documentation solely for your own personal use …”

By: 451 CAOS Theory » 451 CAOS Links 2009.04.24

451 CAOS Theory » 451 CAOS Links 2009.04.24 — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 12:24:15 +0000

[...] Matt Mullenweg explained why the deal need not necessarily have a significant impact on MySQL [...]

By: donnacha | WordSkill

donnacha | WordSkill — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 23:31:13 +0000

No, there is a guarantee they will be free, that’s the point: the GPL.

By: links for 2009-04-21 | BlueWave Media

links for 2009-04-21 | BlueWave Media — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 15:49:02 +0000

[...] Sun, Oracle, WordPress, and MySQL — Matt Mullenweg It’s magically beautiful outside in San Francisco today, but instead everyone is talking about the $7.4 billion acquisition of Sun Microsystems by Oracle. (More on Techmeme.) A number of people have contacted me with questions to the effect of “Oracle is evil, they now own MySQL, WordPress runs on MySQL, OMG! What’s next?” In addition to the millions of WordPress blogs all using MySQL, all of the projects Automattic contributes to are MySQL-based and we run more than 250 servers dedicated to MySQL. (tags: mysql oracle sun wordpress opensource) [...]

By: Oracle compró Sun Microsystems | Freedonians

Oracle compró Sun Microsystems | Freedonians — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 12:02:08 +0000

[...] a no desesperar, ya que el mismísimo Matt Mullemberg transmite calma a los preocupados usuarios de WordPress con su post sobre el [...]

By: Danny

Danny — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 04:15:49 +0000

I don’t understand how Matt has reassured that MySQL will be around and free.

Matt doesn’t own MySQL/Sun/Oracle, so there’s no guarantee that they will be free.

Not saying it won’t either.

By: 20 Years of Partnership Ends: Oracle & Sun Microsystems

20 Years of Partnership Ends: Oracle & Sun Microsystems — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 19:33:40 +0000

[...] Today our servers are running various versions of MySQL, tomorrow they’ll be running the same thing, and if need be ten years from now they can run the exact some software. Because of the GPL every WordPress user in the world is protected — we’re not beholden to any one company, only to what works best for us. Today that’s MySQL, tomorrow that’s MySQL, a year from now we’ll see. read more at ma.tt [...]

By: A Vision for Oracle’s Cloud Platform: The Red Cloud « SmoothSpan Blog

A Vision for Oracle’s Cloud Platform: The Red Cloud « SmoothSpan Blog — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 16:57:34 +0000

[...] Oracle can’t really kill MySQL because of its Open Source basis. I found WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg’s post to be particularly eloquent of [...]

By: EAS

EAS — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 16:31:57 +0000

Oracle has been acquiring underlying tech that is important to mySQL for a while now. The fact that that hasn’t lead tobad things yet doesn’t mean it won’t in the future. Actually, arguably, the acquisition of Innodb did have a negative impact on the project, because it created momentum for an alternative (falcon?) which drew resources for defensive development that could have gone to advancing mySQL.

It seems to me that there is very little Oracle could that makes much difference for open source projects and web services built on open source that are happy using mySQL now. They could screw the codebase up, but that would just lend momentum to fork.

What they can do is slow mySQL down. They can divert their internal resources away from development and maintenence. They can make licensing for use in closed source products more expensive, which might drive away some 3rd party vendors and users, reducing the pool of potential competitors. The uncertainty they are already causing can cause new and existing open source projects to question their commitment and lea to them supporting something like Postgres instead of or in addition to mySQL. This ends up diluting the mySQL community.

It is hard not to imagine that this willbe good for Postgres (even though I think there are still some Postgres devs on Sun’s payroll). It’s also good for drizzle, and anyone for whom the Drizzles roadmap is more attractive than muSQL’s.

This certainly gives Oracle more influence over a disruptor that is probably eating up into their DB business from the low end and it allows them to draw revenue from people who wouldn’t otherwise be Oracle customers (or not for long) without seriously threatening pricepoints on Oracle “classic”

I think though that the acqusition is aS much about keeping Sun’s customer base out of the hands of anyone who has a real competitor to Oracle’s DB and enterprise apps.

By: redlab

redlab — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 06:45:35 +0000

WordPress supporting other db’s would be cool! Always willing to help for it.

ps: maybe Oracle bought Sun because Sun bought MySQL enabling Sun to provide full packages of software(app server/db… and hardware; 2 fisherman fishing in the same pool.
Now it’s one big ship fishing in that pool.. easier to throw some things overboard and stack other stuff in the same container?

By: Byrne Reese

Byrne Reese — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 06:45:12 +0000

“I would not be surprised if this moment is for Drizzle what Movable Type changing their licensing was for WordPress, even though in this case they’re both Open Source.)”

You never miss a beat do you Matt?

Do you really think that this deal has the honest to god potential to be a watershed moment for Drizzle? How have the economics for MySQL users changed? In what ways has this change in ownership really changed anything about how the source is governed and distributed? How conscious were people of the fact that MySQL was purchased by Sun in the first place (outside of the Valley that is)? And if *that* change in ownership didn’t adversely affect MySQL users, why on earth would this one?

By: MySQL miscellany | DBMS2 -- DataBase Management System Services

MySQL miscellany | DBMS2 -- DataBase Management System Services — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 06:04:54 +0000

[...] (which is probably the application that has caused the most MySQL usage, including by me), wrote: ” … we’re not beholden to any one company, only to what works best for us. Today [...]

By: Ordinary lad

Ordinary lad — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 03:25:24 +0000

Akuisisi Sun oleh Oracle : Quo vadis MySQL?…

Kaget juga baca postingan mas Vavai di Planet Terasi, tentang akuisisi Sun Microsystems oleh Oracle. Sun itu bukan perusahaan ecek-ecek lho. Java, Solaris, OpenOffice, MySQL, VirtualBox, itu baru sebagian dari “kekayaan” Sun. Tapi justru mu…

By: Goofydg1

Goofydg1 — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 01:36:03 +0000

The buy is a little scary. However, I like the idea of WordPress porting to a couple other DB’s is great (Postgres?). I’ve seen other software that does that. Seems feasible.