Gawker: valleywag, mysql

Another MySQL founder soft-quits

Paul Boutin — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 17:20:00 EDT

First it was Monty Widenius who quit, or didn't, or was thinking about resignation as an option or something. Now David Axmark has officially resigned from Sun Microsystems, which bought MySQL the company — not to be confused with MySQL the open-source software — for a billion dollars in January. Like Monty before him, Axmark isn't completely quitting. He's going to "work with MySQL and Sun on a less formal basis" because, he says in a resignation letter, "I HATE all the rules that I need to follow, and I also HATE breaking them." Dude, it's called middle age. Here's the official blurb from MySQL spokesblogger Kaj Arnö:

Let me recap what David has done for MySQL. David is the reason MySQL is FOSS. Without David, MySQL wouldn’t be GPL (Monty originally planned a closed-source product). David is also the reason people associate MySQL primarily with Sweden and less so with Finland, since MySQL AB was founded in Uppsala to be close to David (and our third co-founder Allan Larsson).

If anyone finds yet another MySQL co-founder, please send him or her our way.

Was MySQL creator's resignation rumor just a negotiating tactic?

Owen Thomas — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 14:40:00 EDT

We'd heard, on good authority, that Monty Widenius, creator of the popular open-source database MySQL, the foundation of most modern Web apps, had quit Sun, not long after the server maker's $1 billion purchase of his company. MySQL's designated community panderer, Kaj Arnö, muddied the waters with a maybe-he-will-maybe-he-won't blog post. Now, at last, via Infoworld, an explanation: Widenius is negotiating with Sun for a new role at MySQL. Which raises the question: Was he ever really planning to leave, or was he just telling people that to see how his corporate overseers would react?

MySQL founder avoids True/False result on resignation query

Paul Boutin — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 18:20:00 EDT

Michael "Monty" Widenius, the leading mind behind the open-source database program MySQL, was credibly rumored to have resigned from Sun Microsystems last Thursday. Now Kaj Arnö, the VP of community for MySQL AB, the Swedish company acquired by Sun for a billion bucks in January, has done a spectacular job of confusing the hell out of everyone with an equivocating post on the topic. Arnö talked to Widenius and wrote: "Technically there is no resignation letter. However, I spoke to Monty yesterday, and yes, resignation is an option he considers ... In summary, I can neither confirm nor deny the rumour. But I hope my posting has shed some light on the situation." No, Kaj, no it hasn't. (Photo by Sebastian Bergmann)

MySQL founder quits Sun

Paul Boutin — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 21:10:00 EDT

"Just heard that Monty gave his resignation to Sun today," a tipster we trust writes about Michael Widenius, the Finnish-born main author of open-source database software MySQL. Sun Microsystems had aqcuired Monty's company, also called MySQL, for a cool billion in January. So who's running the show now? Best guess is Brian Aker, another prominent MySQL developer. Aker released a lightweight, Web 2.0-oriented version of MySQL called Drizzle in late July, but he's still at Sun.

Kevin Harvey gloats about "insane" MySQL investment

Nicholas Carlson — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 16:00:34 EST

With its 15 percent share, Balderton Capital cashed out big on Sun's $1 billion MySQL acquisition yesterday. But Benchmark, from which Balderton was spun off, took an even bigger risk on open source back when doing so seemed more than a little crazy."When we first invested in Red Hat it was thought to be totally insane. When we funded MySQL it was only partly insane," Benchmark Capital's Kevin Harvey told the FT after Sun announced its buy. Benchmark owned 26 percent of MySQL before yesterday's sale, providing the firm a much-needed big hit, the likes of which the firm hasn't seen since eBay.

After MySQL, will Barry Maloney see a Bebo payday, too?

Owen Thomas — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 16:47:45 EST

You likely haven't heard of Balderton Capital, Benchmark's former affiliate in Europe. But Barry Maloney, a partner at the VC firm, is crowing after the $1 billion sale of MySQL to Sun. Balderton owned a 15 percent stake in MySQL. It owns a similar share of Bebo, the social network which Rupert Murdoch reportedly paid a visit to recently. Bebo denies Murdoch's interest was related to an acquisition. But Bebo's U.K. market share is a coveted prize. Were Bebo to sell, so soon after MySQL's exit, Maloney would have even more reason to brag; he's on Bebo's board.

Oracle and Sun attack the stack

Owen Thomas — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 14:55:30 EST

Oracle has acquired BEA for $8.5 billion. Sun has acquired MySQL for $1 billion. These events are not coincidence. Oracle, which already makes a database, wants to add BEA's software on top of that database. Sun, which makes application servers and other software which connects to databases, wants to slip MySQL in underneath that layer. It all adds up to what geeks and software salesmen call a "stack," or a complete package of interconnecting programs.

The irony is that BEA rose to prominence on the notion that its application server would make things simpler for database buyers. Buy any database you'd like, and BEA's application server would connect to it. Likewise, MySQL grew as a cheaper, open-source alternative to databases from IBM and Oracle.

A database here, an application server there, a bit of open-source software on top of that all sounds nice in theory. It proved in practice to be a headache for the influential tech buyers at large corporations. One salesperson calling on them, one phone number to dial when things went wrong, it turns out, is what they really wanted.

The consolidation was inevitable, if perhaps a bit sad. The goal of the stack game is to make sure that your software is the layer on top — the one that matters to programmers, the one applications are designed for. BEA and MySQL both had grand ambitions in that regard. Those are now coming to an end. Sun and Oracle will no doubt make grand statements about how compatible their software is, how well their children play with others. Ignore those. The history of IT tells us those promises are false.

Sun Microsystems acquires MySQL for $1 billion

Nicholas Carlson — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 08:42:35 EST

Sun Microsystems will acquire open source database developer MySQL AB for approximately $1 billion, the companies announced this morning. Sun characterized the move as its entry into the $15 billion corporate-database market.

When Sun reported $89 million in income on $3.2 billion in revenue last quarter — a 1 percent increase year-over-year — analysts wondered if the company would ever grow again. "What we need to see is if this company can ever grow again, and the jury is still out on that question," noted one analyst. Today's move should assuage some of those questions for now. Though it's unlikely as anything to change Sun founder Bill Joy's dismal views on the fate of humanity.