A sneak preview of the upcoming April COLLABORATE 11 presentation on MySQL

1. Collaborate Sneak Preview:
MySQL,
the Ecosystem,
the Product
KAJ ARNÖ
EVP Products, SkySQL Ab
2011-02-16

2. Agenda for the IOUG Webinar 16 Feb 2011
• The essentials of MySQL’s background and history
–... to the extent it’s relevant for IOUG members
• MySQL AB, Sun, Oracle: What is the same?
What’s different?
• Brief history of MySQL, the product, the company
–Core values | Milestones | Positioning
–The role and expectations of the MySQL
community | New players
–Business implications
MySQL, Sun Microsystems and Oracle are trademarks of Oracle Corp.
and/or its affiliates
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3. Don’t miss MySQL at COLLABORATE 11!
Get four days of expert-level education, user-driven sessions
and networking around MySQL best practices. Hang out in the
Open Source Lounge and attend the Sunday night MySQL
group dinner, too!
Register and use offer code “MYSQ” during the first step of
registration to receive the lowest registration rate ($1,175)
– a savings of more than $200!
Learn more at collaborate11.ioug.org/mysql
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4. Your speaker
• SkySQL Ab Oct 2010-
–EVP Products (Mktg, Eng)
• Oracle 2010
• Sun Microsystems 2008-09
–MySQL Ambassador
• MySQL AB 2001-07
–VP Community Relations
–VP Engineering
–CIO, VP Services, VP Training
• Polycon Ab 1987-2001
–CEO 4

5. 1981 - 1995 - 2000 - 2001
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6. Core Values
• Stability
–”We hate bugs”
• Performance
–386 at CeBIT 2001
• Ease of use
–15 min rule
• GPL v2.0
6

7. LAMP | P = Perl PHP Python
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8. The MySQL Community
• Brand recognition and
user base
–like Linux
• Quality Assurance
–like Linux
• Recruitment base
–not like Linux
• Little code contributions
–unlike Linux
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9. 9

10. MySQL and Oracle
• -2005: Little touching
points
• 2005-: InnoDB
–the most popular
storage engine
• 2006 Partner of the Year
• Co-existence
• Alternative or
complement?
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11. 11

12. The MySQL AB Heritage
• MySQL AB was:
–70K+ downloads per day since 2003
–13M+ active installations worldwide
–The largest OSS exit to-date with $1B purchase by
Sun
• MySQL is:
–Part of Oracle via the acquisition of Sun Microsystems
–Developed and improved by Oracle as ”regulated” by a
commitment with (or press release to) the EU
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13. 15 Jan 2008: Sun announces acquisition
•
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14. 28 Feb 2008: Sun closed MySQL acquisition
• Good mood
• Integration
• Role: ”MySQL
Ambassador
to Sun”
• Compatible
cultures
• Different
customer base
• Easy story
• Good will x 2
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15. 2008-03 to 2009-03: MySQL Resignations
• Clint Smith (MySQL legal counsel) resigns
• David Axmark
(co-founder) resigns
• Mårten Mickos
(ex CEO) resigns
• Michael ”Monty” Widenius
(co-founder) resigns
• Ulf Sandberg
(ex SVP services) resigns
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16. 21 April 2009: Oracle announcement
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17. ”What hasn’t changed with MySQL”
• Blog entry 21 April 2009 right after a former
colleague alerted me with what I thought was a
joke, ”So Oracle bought MySQL after all!”
• Change: Sun Microsystems and Oracle
announced they have entered into a definitive
agreement under which Oracle will acquire Sun. 17

18. 1. There still is a huge base of MySQL users
out there
• They have economic interests that are
independent of whoever owns MySQL.
• The users in the MySQL community come in all
flavors, ranging from casual users to those who
intimately know the inner workings of MySQL
and have contributed to the code base.
• Status February 2011: Still very true.
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19. 2. There still is a huge talent pool of MySQL
experts in Sun Microsystems, ...
• ... in Support, in Consulting, in Training, in
Engineering, in other parts of Sun.
• They have a strong loyalty towards the MySQL
users they have served over many years.
• Status February 2011: Partly true.
–Change: The MySQL expert talent pool is to a much
lesser degree at Sun (or Oracle) than April 2009
–True: Very many remain in the MySQL ecosystem
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20. 3. MySQL is still licensed under the GPL
• The GPL license used to form a safety net for the
users not certain about whether MySQL AB
would follow the spirit of Open Source.
• It continued to be so with Sun Microsystems.
And the Open Source license continues to
provide a safety net for its user base, regardless
of the owner of MySQL.
• Status February 2011: True, but ...
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21. 3. MySQL is still licensed under the GPL, but
• ... parts around MySQL are commercial only
• ... closed source extensions are conceivable
• ... fixing of bugs found by the community isn’t
happening quickly
• ... contributions are as low as ever
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22. 4. MySQL has founders, one in particular ...
• ... who still haven’t fallen off the face of the
planet.
• Moreover, their passion for MySQL and its users
continues.
• Status February 2011: Very true.
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23. 2009-05 to 2010-01: Waiting for closure
• Nine months of waiting, not one and a half
• ”Just two more months”
• 2009-08 to 2010-01: Monty campaign
• 2009-09 to 2010-01: EU needs more time to
study
• ”Business as usual”
• Ten-step MySQL press promise by Oracle
• Further attrition
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24. Oracle Commitment to the EU over MySQL
• Continued Availability of Storage Engine APIs
• Non-assertion against any 3rd party or vendor for the
implementation of storage engines under GPL
• Same licence commitment for commercial customers
• MySQL enhancements under GPL
• Non-mandatory support
• Increased R&D
• MySQL Customer Advisory Board
• MySQL Storage Engine Advisory Board
• MySQL Reference Manual
• Maintain customer’s choice to buy yearly support
http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Oracle-Makes-Commitments-to-Customers-Developers-and-Users-of-
MySQL-NASDAQ-ORCL-1090000.htm -- shorter: http://tinyurl.com/yzdg9tb 24

25. 2010-02 to today: Integration, attrition
• 2010-04 MySQL Conference with O’Reilly
• Further attrition
• 2010-11 New pricing
• Reactions and overreactions in the press
• 2011-02 Support system migration
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26. The future? Some relevant questions
• Will community bugs be fixed?
• Closed source extensions?
• ”Forking” between commercial and community
editions?
• Necessity to re-install mysqld at start or end of
commercial support relationship?
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27. Players in the MySQL Ecosystem
• Oracle
• Ex-employees: Open Query, Percona, Ronald
Bradford, FromDual, Drizzle
• Long-time ”near-ex-employees”: Pythian, 451 Group,
Palomino
• Top ”community customers”: Facebook, Google, eBay
• Technical ”communty partners”: PBXT, ScaleDB,
WebYog, Tokutek, Continuent
• SkySQL Ab, Monty Program Ab
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28. Monty Program Ab
• Promotes MariaDB
• Development
• Open Source commitment
• Top engineers from MySQL AB times
• Incorporated in Finland
• Bug fixing
• New features
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29. Intro to SkySQL
The alternative source for software, services and
support for the MySQL® database
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30. SkySQL Ab
• Founded by: Key people from MySQL AB (Execs,
managers and an angel investor)
• Funded by: US Investment group OnCorps.org, David
Axmark, Michael ”Monty” Widenius
• Operating in 13 countries with:
–65% of the team focused on Services & Support
–15% of the team focused on Sales, Presales &
Marketing
–95% of the team ex-MySQL AB employees
• Backed by:
–Product Engineering Monty Program Ab
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31. SkySQL Goals
• To be #1 worldwide provider of MySQL-related
offerings
• To build a profitable, sustainable commercial
business while preserving open source values
• To raise the bar on the quality of MySQL service
and support
• To ensure and promote competition
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32. SkySQL Offering
• SkySQL Enterprise Subscriptions
–Monitoring, Administration and End User tools
–L0 to L3 Technical and Consultative Support on the
most famous and used MySQL distributions and forks
• SkySQL Consulting
–Top class team for MySQL technology
–Extended service offering from Health Check to
continuous administration
• SkySQL Training
–Training for MySQL DBAs and Developers
32

33. Don’t miss MySQL at COLLABORATE 11!
Get four days of expert-level education, user-driven sessions
and networking around MySQL best practices. Hang out in the
Open Source Lounge and attend the Sunday night MySQL
group dinner, too!
Register and use offer code “MYSQ” during the first step of
registration to receive the lowest registration rate ($1,175)
– a savings of more than $200!
Learn more at collaborate11.ioug.org/mysql
33

34. Thank you!
KAJ ARNÖ
EVP Products
kaj@skysql.com
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