MySQL AB to Counter Oracle Buy of Innobase

Another issue that I've posted about before. It looks like MySQL AB may be developing their own transactional database engine for MySQL. From the article: “Obviously because Oracle made that acquisition we are evaluating options to replace that functionality in some way,” said Richard Mason, vice president of MySQL for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). “We're not at the point yet where we can go public with what that plan is but we will be shortly.” So, still not a ton of concrete information available, but it's now clear which way MySQL AB is going to go with this. One still has to wonder why they didn't acquire Innobase OY themselves, when they had the chance. Whether MySQL AB will attempt to write the new engine from scratch or use one of the exiting ones as a base remains to be seen. This could also just be posturing as an attempt to get Oracle to renegotiate the InnoDB deal, but considering the size and histories of the companies involved that seems extremely unlikely. I still find it interesting that Oracle considers MySQL AB a direct competitor – I always considered them an indirect competitor. One thing is becoming clear though, and that is that MySQL AB is in a tough space right now. With SQLite, firebird and PostgreSQL gaining popularity on the Open side and free or extremely inexpensive releases of Oracle, MS SQL and DB2 available on the proprietary side, MySQL is in that sometimes dangerous middle ground. They do however have one significant advantage though, and that is application support. If they can continue the current trend of many popular apps only containing support for MySQL, that could be the wild card they need. As the other DB's gain in popularity though, that may be a tough thing to do.
MySQL, Oracle, GPL, InnoDB, Innobase, database
–jeremy