Oracle and Open Source
December 15, 2009
Open source has a future in the enterprise. IBM has made its commitment to open source clear. I can license a mainframe running an open source Linux OS. I know that IBM has a revenue imperative; that is, the company takes technical steps in order to generate revenue. I suppose this means that IBM is pragmatic, and it suggests that open source in this one instance may not be “open” in the sense that some of those in the open source community understand the term.
The same can be said of other commercial open source “plays”. Some are positive. Last week in London, Charlie Hull, Lemur Consulting, explained his firm’s commitment to open source, the open source community, and Lemur’s customers. I like his approach.
When I read “Oracle Makes Commitments to Customers, Developers and Users of MySQL,” I found myself asking some questions. Why is the deal between Oracle and Sun Microsystems stuck? Why is their so much consternation about the MySQL database? Why is Oracle making public commitments to a governmental group half a world away?
The write up said:
No later than six months after the anniversary of the closing, Oracle will create and fund a storage engine vendor advisory board, to provide guidance and feedback on MySQL development priorities and other issues of importance to MySQL storage engine vendors.
User groups—particularly uncontrolled user groups—and advisory boards can become problematic. I have seen a number of user groups become focal points for certain issues in enterprise software. The recent shift to software vendor owned and operated conferences is one reaction to the uncontrolled user group.
In my opinion, I think a certain large software vendor will release an open source data management system that will undermine today’s commercial and open source systems. If and when this release takes place, I think the data management world will face significant disruption. In fact, the concern about MySQL could accelerate this disruptive action. I don’t think that Oracle will be able to “control” this “advisory board”. Control is a large part of a successful publicly traded company.
Furthermore, Oracle’s apparent inability to get this deal wrapped up may be the inadvertent trigger for an even more disruptive event. Will Oracle’s assurances be enough for the European Union watchdogs? My hunch is that traditional software vendors will find themselves bitten by their own business processes. Just my opinion.
Stephen E. Arnold, December 15, 2009
Oyez, oyez, I am delighted to report to Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives Bureau (Justice)that I was not paid to write this statement about the lack of adaptability in large enterprise software companies. This is an explosive idea: open source and the enterprise.
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Another open source company with a running start towards an an open source data management system is MindTouch, Inc. http://www.mindtouch.com/