Oracle buys Sun
As most people in the IT industry have probably heard by now, Oracle is going to buy Sun. As with most big business transactions, the official purchase hasn’t taken place yet, but with a definite offer agreed upon it is unlikely to unravel before the deal closes in the summer.
The acquisition throws up all sorts of questions, but the one that seems to be raging at the moment is “what will happen to MySQL?” In my mind, there are several possibilities:
- Business as usual: MySQL continues as part of Oracle, just as it has been part of Sun. Oracle gains in several ways, but principally by having another outlet to offer support contracts. The other major benefit to Oracle is being able to offer its database software as a natural upgrade path for businesses who feel that they have outgrown MySQL, in the same was that SQL Server is seen as an upgrade from Microsoft Access. Oracle could also use MySQL as a recruitment tool, in that external developers who commit regularly to the base source code could be offered jobs as Oracle developers.
- MySQL is sold or spun-off into a separate company: This would enable Oracle to recoup some of the money it paid for Sun, and avoid having two products which could potentially compete with each other. On the other hand, having MySQL owned by another company could be saving up a dangerous competitor for the future.
- Kill off MySQL: It wouldn’t be too difficult for Oracle to try and kill off MySQL by redeploying all the existing paid developers and letting the project languish with no official support or development. However, given that Oracle has paid a substantial amount of money for Sun, I think an attempt to kill off MySQL – as opposed to selling it – is unlikely to happen. Furthermore, the core of MySQL is open source, so there could always be a fork, albeit not under the MySQL name, if Oracle did attempt to quietly brush it under the carpet.
Sun’s other big property, Java, on the other hand will probably be in safe hands with Oracle, as it already relies heavily on the technology for some of its middleware products. There’s also Solaris, and with it OpenSolaris, which may or may not go anywhere.
Ironically, at the time of writing there is still a huge image on the MySQL home page (number 5 on the list of images) telling users to “get off proprietary databases and save millions now!”, which links to a TCO Savings Calculator showing Oracle costing nearly twenty times as much as MySQL. I wonder how long that will last? 
Further Reading
- Will Oracle kill MySQL? Who cares? (The Register)