MySQL: does marketing win over technology?

Sam Varghese
Thursday, 11 December 2008 03:59

Opinion and Analysis

When version 5.1 of the open source database MySQL was released for general availability late last month, the most surprising reaction came from its original developer and one of the co-founders of MySQL AB.
In a blog post, Monty Widenius criticised the release, saying that it had several fatal bugs that had not been addressed.

A few days later, Marten Mickos, former CEO of MySQL AB when it was an independent company, and now senior vice-president of Sun's database group, made a statement to the effect that Widenius' reaction was fine by him.

Sun bought MySQL in January this year.

The public contradiction between two top MySQL people tells us a lot about how difficult it is for a corporate entity like Sun to adopt the values that open source embodies.

If Widenius says there are fatal bugs in 5.1, then he is right. Nobody would dare to contradict him.

That he said it loud shows that he is still an open source man, one who sticks to the old convention of debating something on technical grounds. For Widenius, marketing is still secondary.

For a long time, this is the one factor that has given free and open source software an advantage. Developers don't gloss over bugs in order to catch marketing deadlines.

If something is being delayed beyond a reasonable time, then it is released - but with the appropriate cautionary notices.

If MySQL 5.1 had been put out as a release candidate, then it's unlikely that Widenius would have had any objections.

Widenius, it must be remembered, has no need to toe any particular line. He has status, he has technical credibility. For a while after he made his reservations about the release known, there was speculation that he would leave Sun, in the same way that the other MySQL co-founder David Axmark has.

Mickos' reaction is that of the traditional corporate - closing ranks and trying to minimise what many see as damaging statements. But then he cannot do otherwise.