EU Clears Oracle to Buy Sun Microsystems | Hacker News Reader

EU Clears Oracle to Buy Sun Microsystems

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39 pointsthafman11 comments

> In December, Oracle tried to address those concerns, by saying it would "continue to enhance" MySQL, publish programming details of MySQL to help others create applications, and would not to pursue copyright claims against other companies that incorporate the software. Those pledges are nonbinding

If the EU had decided to hold Oracle to its pledges regarding MySQL, Oracle wouldn't have any right to complain.

The perplexing question (in my opinion) is why didn't they hold them to those pledges? Really makes you wonder - I suppose they think MySQL's smaller market share wouldn't hurt the market if it disappeared. This is really so far from the truth.

How does one make that a legally binding requirement in perpetuity ?

> I, Michael "Monty" Widenius, the creator of MySQL, am asking you urgently to help save MySQL from Oracle's clutches.

UL, So I'll guess you'll be crying into your €16.6m

would you prefer he just go retire and not give a crap about MySQL?

I do think it in bad taste for him to complain about what's being done with something he sold for a very large amount, especially since he quickly ejected from the acquiring company. It's kind of like selling your house and then going to the neighborhood council to complain about what the new owners are doing with it.

It's more like building a neighborhood from scratch, taking care of it for fifteen years, and then seeing the ones you handed it over to being bought by the ones who owns the rest of the city.

I don't get where people get this strange attitude from. Like you're more of a "sellout" when you build a company over time, with an open source product and don't want to be controlled by your competitor. Than if you, like most startups today, build a proprietary product with the intention of selling to you biggest competitor as soon as possible.

MySQL AB was a venture backed startup that raised $40m in funding, not some random open source hippies that got tricked into giving away the crown jewels. The company was built to sell or IPO.

And see, I don't expect Montey to like this, but I do wish he'd shut up about it. He's not the right person to be leading this call. My take on this doesn't have anything to do with it being OSS or not; it'd seem like sour grapes if any founder who sold his company and left was trying to incite governments towards legal action against his acquiring company at a time when they're otherwise pretty much hosed.

> taking care of it for fifteen years, and then seeing the ones you handed it over to

sold to, for a hefty sum and then quit as caretaker

> being bought by the ones who owns the rest of the city.

because the city went bust and needed the money

As a creator of MySQL isn't his course of actions that are ultimately responsible for this fate for MySQL? Why is he crying now? I don't get it.

Um, yes.

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