Mickos reduces the SCO deal to dollars and cents. "As for the deal with SCO, there is a simple reason why we don't talk
about the details: SCO is our customer and like in most of our agreements, there is a clause stating that the terms are confidential. Briefly, SCO came to us and wanted to pay us for supporting their operating system. We think that end-users should have the best database no matter what operating system they run on, so we did the deal."

Asked why MySQL dropped support for the same Unixware operating system in 2004, Mickos says, "There wasn't enough demand for it in the market."

And he adds: "We condemn SCO for their lawsuit, but we also believe that the judges in that matter are a) the courts and b) their own customers. We always try to be the doctor rather than the judge."

Mickos is no doubt aware that companies which have made a name dealing in free and open source software are always under scrutiny when they make any move that takes them away from the core of their ethos. And the last thing he wants is to squander the goodwill that MySQL has in the community.

While the move with the storage engines is a forward-looking one, Mickos prefers to cross the licensing bridge when he comes to it. "We have not made a decision regarding GPL3 for MySQL yet. That decision will be made when the licence is ready and when we see the reception of it in the community and the market," he says when asked if MySQL will be moving to the new version of the General Public License, version 3, which is scheduled to be released in March.

He is also acutely aware of the need for a good image. "As you may know, we are actively engaged in the work around GPL3. GPL3 will have a number of important improvements to the licence text, for instance being designed from the start for global use and for fitting better into the various national legislations. GPL3 also deals with software patents in a new way, and you may know that MySQL AB is an active supporter of the www.NoSoftwarePatents.com campaign in EU."

As the year progresses, more and more companies which have made their name and money (at least enough to keep food on the table) from FOSS, will have to devise different business models to cope with moves made proprietary software vendors. Mickos appears to be pragmatic and also a polished diplomat. MySQL has, for some time, been the most widely used open source database, even on Windows. He clearly intends to keep it in that position.{moscomment}