back to article Early MySQL engineer questions whether Oracle is unintentionally killing off the open source database

An experienced MySQL database engineer has questioned whether Oracle might unintentionally kill off the open source database with its preference for adding features to its proprietary systems. Peter Zaitsev, who worked as a performance engineer at MySQL Inc before the database was bought by Oracle, has published a blog post …

  1. Throatwarbler Mangrove Silver badge
    Facepalm

    "Unintentionally"

    Sure, it's totally unintentional. Oh, you sweet summer child.

    1. This post has been deleted by its author

    2. Evil Auditor Silver badge
      Thumb Up

      Re: "Unintentionally"

      Exactly my thought.

      1. David 132 Silver badge

        Re: "Unintentionally"

        It’s Oracle, so the reverse of Hanlon’s Razor applies - we should not ascribe to stupidity that which can be explained by malice.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: "Unintentionally"

          > the reverse of Hanlon’s Razor

          Larry's Razor.

          1. ecofeco Silver badge

            Re: "Unintentionally"

            THAT guy!!

        2. PC Paul

          Re: "Unintentionally"

          Imagine the chaos if Oracle bought Broadcom, or Broadcom bought Oracle? Which would be worse?

          1. Fruit and Nutcase Silver badge
            Mushroom

            MAD

            Hopefully, Mutually Assured Destruction, whoever buys the other

          2. CorwinX

            Re: "Unintentionally"

            Define "worse" ;-)

            However you score it these idiots will find a new setting on the idiocy scale."This one goes up fo 11".

            Readers may disagree but for my part I reckon VMware got it mostly right for well over a decade and actually wanted to build stuff to make sysadmins happy.

            Broadcom are a bunch of motherless funts who strip-mine anything they lay their hands on.

            They're not a techno company....they're a predatory accountancy firm. Hoping Oracle dont end up going the same route.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Short answer, yes

    Long answer, yes, intentionally.

    1. wolfetone Silver badge

      Re: Short answer, yes

      Longer answer: Yes, intentionally, but I thought this has been common knowledge for years?

      1. ecofeco Silver badge

        Re: Short answer, yes

        I would think so, but apparently not.

  3. Charlie Clark Silver badge

    Did anyone expect anything different?

    From my occasional engagement with MySQL it did at least look like Oracle took QA more seriously than the previous owners. They spooked enough people for Monty to get a cheer when he launched MariaDB, but I think the main result was a continuing migration of developers and their companies to Postgres. Long may it continue.

    1. Wiretrip

      Re: Did anyone expect anything different?

      And Postgres also does JSON better than MongoDb, from which there is also considerable migration...

      1. Missing Semicolon Silver badge

        Re: Did anyone expect anything different?

        That seems an odd assertion, when the native format for MongoDB docs is an object represented in JSON.

        1. Charlie Clark Silver badge

          Re: Did anyone expect anything different?

          Not really, though it does depend on what you mean by performance. Support for binary JSON was added years ago but the format itself isn't that different to the even older hstore. Going binary meant adding index support and optimisations for the planner. MongoDB probably has greater write speed because that's about all it does quickly and all that some people seem to need.

          1. Andy Law

            Re: Did anyone expect anything different?

            But is it web scale?

    2. Iqra Technology

      Re: Did anyone expect anything different?

      Yes, many anticipated that Oracle’s acquisition would lead to significant changes. While Oracle did improve QA processes, the acquisition spurred concerns about MySQL’s future. This led to Monty Widenius's launch of MariaDB, which was well-received by the community. However, the major outcome has been a continued shift of developers and companies toward PostgreSQL, which is appreciated for its advanced features and reliability. This migration trend seems likely to continue, also for your better understanding, here are some great learning platforms:

      1.https://www.w3schools.com/js/

      2.https://www.w3schools.com/css/

      3.https://iqratechnology.com/academy/

  4. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

    Do people still use MySQL rather than MariaDB?

    1. PBuon

      Postgresql is a better option than both IMO.

      1. F. Frederick Skitty Silver badge

        Currently looking at migrating from MariaDB to PostgreSQL. The biggest stumbling block is the number of queries that were implemented on the assumption that all string matching is case insensitive. It means I'm having to audit every part of our data access layer, which is rather extensive.

    2. Charlie Clark Silver badge

      Sure, otherwise Oracle would have shelved it years ago.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Do people still use MariaDB rather than Postgres?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Only people operating with CLOWN_MODE=TRUE

      2. find users who cut cat tail

        Why migrate to Postgres if your old database works just fine?

        1. Charlie Clark Silver badge

          Depends on your environment. If all you care about is keeping it running, then do that. But I think that Postgres does a lot of things a lot better than MySQL ever did and switching can simplify things a lot.

        2. CowHorseFrog Silver badge

          Dont you know that over half of all sw engineers are employed on rewriting something again for the tenth time.

    4. Henry Wertz 1 Gold badge

      yeah really

      Yeah really, my thought exactly. MySQL is likely seeing limited developer activity because the developer focus (for those who didn't switch to PostgreSQL) is probably on MariaDB. Last project i used that "required" MySQL i used it as a drop-in replacement.

    5. karlkarl Silver badge

      Ironically I think we all still call it MySQL but ultimately are referring to MariaDB.

      There was a couple of cases at work where it really confused our licensing department.

  5. Michael

    dumped it before oracle takeover

    I switched our systems to postgres in 2008-2009. I'd previously been a big fan of mysql however even then could see postgres looked like a safer bet. The oracle takeover convinced me it was the correct move and all the fallout ever since has just reinforced my belief that I picked the correct tool for the long term.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Definitely not a priority

    Use embedded mysql in a mixed hardware/software long running product. So many bugs recently (each release has more serious bugs than the last). Keep getting their sales asking when we'll move to a managed (I.e. cloud solution). Don't seem to understand our systems have to be installed on customer premises... its obvious where the focus is and it is saas.

    1. Michael Strorm Silver badge

      Re: Definitely not a priority

      > Don't seem to understand our systems have to be installed on customer premises...

      To paraphrase Upton Sinclair, it is difficult to get a sales droid to understand that you can't move to the cloud when their fat commission depends on their not understanding that.

  7. ecofeco Silver badge
    Facepalm

    Questions?

    Were they born yesterday? Of course every corporation on the planet is trying to kill anything they can't monetize.

    Duh.

    1. theblackhand

      Re: Questions?

      That's harsh - many corporations continue to push products that can't be monetised.

      Like IBM with Lotus Notes post-2005...

  8. TheWeetabix Bronze badge

    I do not think

    that word means what you think it means.

    But I’m sure it’s unintentional.

  9. John70

    I'm more surprised Oracle didn't kill it off years ago.

    1. Charlie Clark Silver badge

      I'm sure they're making enough money from companies that need support and are happy to pay for it.

      1. CowHorseFrog Silver badge

        perhaps, but the money they make from support for mysql woul dbe significantly higher if they were "forced" to move to oracle.

        1. Charlie Clark Silver badge

          Sure, but companies have multi-brand strategies for a reason and I think it's reasonable to assume that while some companies might be happy to pay for support for MySQL, they might not be willing to pay for Oracle for the same task. And winding down the open source side of MySQL would have no effect on these companies because they'd still continue to get a database. You can see Oracle's interest in winding down the open source and "community" aspects: a bunch of freeloaders that don't contribute much.

          1. CowHorseFrog Silver badge

            You can all it whatever you like, but oracle would rather get $2 than $1, they dont care about anything else.

  10. Lee D Silver badge

    Shocked

    Shocked, shocked I tell you.

    Who could ever imagine such a thing coming from a company with a history like....

    Oh, ORACLE.

    No, that's just expected.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Oracle does this with other products as well, to kill off independent deployments and force migration to the cloud. Deprecate functionality in their off-prem product suite and only introduce new functionality in the cloud version they manage themselves. Anonymous because that's my job.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      down vote, just because it sound's like you enjoy working for the devil

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        sorry didn't realise working for the devil is now cheered on

  12. Slow Joe Crow

    This feels like what they did to Java. It's been a while since I worked with MySQL and it looks like it may turn into never.

  13. Captain Boing

    hate to say...

    I said this woud happen at the take-over. Admittedly it has taken longer than I thought but here we are... it was a logical move and made no sense for Oracle to provide a free competitor

  14. The Bloke next door

    Oracle did not buy mysql

    Sun microsystems bought mysql for $1billion. Oracle then bought Sun and acquired all of Sun's assets, including mysql.

    They will kill mysql just like they have done with Solaris, SPARC and java.

  15. Vocational Vagabond

    Lawnmower Does not care.

    Lawnmower does not care.

  16. CowHorseFrog Silver badge

    What is wrong with americans ?

    Why cant they just say the actual truth why tdo they pretend that big corps are benevolent n kind ?

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