mysql60-server??

[Gary Kline]

On Wed, Nov 25, 2009 at 10:21:37PM +0000, Matthew Seaman wrote:
> Gary Kline wrote:
> 
> >	Thanks for the heads-up, MAtthew.  I'm much too slow to get
> >	all the machinations re which corporation is diddling which
> >	corporation or other entity (like us).  Did not know that
> >	mysql was actually owned by Sun.  I'd ask if there are any
> >	free and open databases, but what db stuff I have is invested
> >	heavily with mysql.  So v 60 is out.  Do you know, off-chance,
> >	which versions are actively being hacked on?  Nothing mission
> >	critical--yet--but I think v51 is the best bet for now.
> 
> Well, what will eventually happen to MySQL is as yet unclear.  It's too
> popular and too widespread for Oracle to just kill it, so my best guess
> is that they'll keep it on as an open source type project, but they'll
> treat it as a means of getting in the door to try and sell Oracle support
> in a lot of places.  Which implies that any technology transfer will be
> mostly from MySQL to Oracle and precious little in the other direction,
> so that the commercial version of Oracle will maintain a technological
> edge.
> 
> In the mean time, a bunch of die-hard MySQL people have forked a new 
> instantiation of that project which isn't under the same commercial
> constraints: see http://askmonty.org/wiki/index.php/MariaDB


	Good to know.  THere was one IBM suite that a whole university
	here took over and produced a clone.  I used the clone and it
	was sold, open-source work.  Eventually, ol 'BM make their
	stuff open and free.  Fine.  

> 
> Active development is mostly occurring on MySQL 5.1 and 5.4 -- not sure
> where 6.0 is going although they did have plenty of development goals other
> than 'not get borged by Oracle'.
> 
> But of course, there is the technically better, almost certainly faster at
> real world tasks, but less optimised for noddy benchmarks option: 
> PostgreSQL.
> It's BSD licenced, and while there are commercially supported variants,
> the core development team and the intellectual property are not structured
> in a way to put them at any risk of being gobbled up by some 
> mega-corporation.


	I took a class in the Ingres db suite from one of the guys who wrote
	it.  Think that Postgress is a follow-on.   It strikes me as
	almost a *certainty* that any commerical project could be done
	better by the open-source community.  ---If it's got your
	*NAME* on it, you're going to be certain it's superior,
	whereas if you're coding just for a paycheck, sure, you'll do
	a good job.  But not as outstanding as an open-source suite.
	----

	gary


> 
> 	Cheers,
> 
> 	Matthew
> 
> -- 
> Dr Matthew J Seaman MA, D.Phil.                   7 Priory Courtyard
>                                                  Flat 3
> PGP: http://www.infracaninophile.co.uk/pgpkey     Ramsgate
>                                                  Kent, CT11 9PW
> 



-- 
   Gary Kline  kline at thought.org  http://www.thought.org  Public Service Unix
      "Misfortune doesn't improve anyone.  That is a fable to reassure the
     afflicted.  A life of hardship humiliates man and forces him to expend
    all his energy on resisting its deadly pressure.  If a man comes out of
    it improved, it only means that he has spent an enormous amount of energy
    on improving in spite of everything.  Just think what he might have done 
        without that pressure." --Jiri Mucha, *Living and Partly Living*