Tragedy?

Tragedy?

Posted Aug 16, 2007 3:26 UTC (Thu) by ncm (subscriber, #165)
Parent article: MySQL stops distributing Enterprise Server source code

Would it really be a tragedy for MySQL AB to falter? It would be unfortunate. There are a few companies whose collapse might be genuinely tragic for the Free Software community, albeit for very different reasons: Google, Red Hat, CodeSourcery. If MySQL AB were to falter, MySQL might stagnate, or somebody else might pick it up. In the meantime, another project with an (at least) equally capable product, PostgreSQL, waits in the wings, with SQLite ready to pick up the low end.

Some feel MySQL has unfairly overshadowed PG for purely historical reasons. Some argue that PG's license has made it harder to build a viable support business. In any case, most projects that depend on a vibrant MySQL could switch to PG at their leisure, and with more inconvenience than pain.

It is in the nature of PostgreSQL's license that a company could fork it and place (its changes to) the fork under dual proprietary and GNU GP licenses, while continuing to merge changes from the parent project. It would take adroit PR to avoid alienating the Free Software community in the process. If it succeeded, the company would be in much the same niche that MySQL AB occupies.

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