Re: SAP and MySQL to cooperate (?!)

On Mon, 2003-05-26 at 06:56, Jean-Michel POURE wrote:
> Le Samedi 24 Mai 2003 09:53, Ricardo Ryoiti S. Junior a écrit :
> > I think it's all about a marketting move. I don't imagine how SAP
> > DB and MySQL could be "merged", and developing a new system from scratch
> > doesn't seem to be plausible. I don't expect much from this at least in
> > short/mid-term (regarding software, not media hype). Anyway, in two or
> > three years we may se a new database that possibly will do what PostgreSQL
> > does now and have been doing for a long time.
>
> Agreed. MySQL will not merge with SAP-DB.
>
> Legaly, SAP needs to maitain installed SAP DB databases. Calling SAP BD the
> next "MySQL version x" will allow SAP to drop SAP DB silently. In other
> words, SAP DB strory may be over.
>
<snip>
> Furthermore, SAP-DB story shows the importance of the notion of "community". A
> Free Software project cannot survive without a real community of developpers.
>

It will be interesting to see what happens to the sap-db open source
community, since ISTM they will be losing a lot of their corporate
backing. You have to figure sap db will stop development of sap-db
pretty soon, which means the community of developers that are involved
will probably have to fork the code to keep working on it. While a
strong commercial stewardship can work wonders for an open source
project, theres no doubt that it can also be the death knell when the
companies aspirations change. Still, I'd welcome any sap-db who want to
join the postgresql project which can offer some solace in that it is
not beholden to any one company.

> MySQL is now coming to a cross-road : they can continue owning MySQL
> completely without external contribution, or start building a community with
> real CVS access and shared responsabilities.
>

So what is the future of INNO-DB? Doesn't this screw the folks
developing that table type? Will mysql really put forth the effort to
develop two "real" database engines? Seems unlikely to me. I guess I'd
also like to extend a welcome for those who are using INNO-DB and
realize they too may be on the short end of things in the not too
distant future...

Robert Treat