Nusphere/MySQL-AB arguing
Some of you may be following the problems between MySQL AB and Nusphere.
Jan found this nice summary:
http://www.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=01/07/12/2142237
The issues involve the MySQL trademark, MySQL websites, the GPL, and
open source community development.
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Bruce Momjian | http://candle.pha.pa.us
pgman@candle.pha.pa.us | (610) 853-3000
+ If your life is a hard drive, | 830 Blythe Avenue
+ Christ can be your backup. | Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania 19026
Bruce Momjian wrote:
Some of you may be following the problems between MySQL AB and Nusphere.
Jan found this nice summary:http://www.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=01/07/12/2142237
The issues involve the MySQL trademark, MySQL websites, the GPL, and
open source community development.
Actually Dave Mele pointed me to it. But that doesn't matter,
it's a real good one.
Jan
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Bruce Momjian writes:
Some of you may be following the problems between MySQL AB and Nusphere.
Jan found this nice summary:http://www.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=01/07/12/2142237
The issues involve the MySQL trademark, MySQL websites, the GPL, and
open source community development.
Coming to a court near you:
* PostgreSQL Inc. vs Great Bridge LLC
Violation of trademark by operating a postgresql.com web site
* PostgreSQL Inc. vs Nedscape Communications (Ned Lilly)
Violation of trademark by operating postgres.{com,org,net}
* AOL/Time Warner vs Nedscape Communications
Well, you figure that one out.
--
Peter Eisentraut peter_e@gmx.net http://funkturm.homeip.net/~peter
On Friday 13 July 2001 20:01, Peter Eisentraut wrote:
Bruce Momjian writes:
The issues involve the MySQL trademark, MySQL websites, the GPL, and
open source community development.
Coming to a court near you:
For some reason I don't see any of these happening.
For one, PostgreSQL isn't a dictatorship like many other open source projects
(MySQL, the Linux Kernel, for two handy examples) are. It is an oligarchy,
which in this case is not a bad thing, as the oligarchs (the 'Steering
Committee' or 'core') are not all employed by one company.
Contributions to PostgreSQL are accepted without requiring copyright transfer
-- which is also a good thing.
Altogether, this is one of the more open 'Open Source' projects -- and there
is a real community feeling here.
--
Lamar Owen
WGCR Internet Radio
1 Peter 4:11
For some reason I don't see any of these happening.
For one, PostgreSQL isn't a dictatorship like many other open source projects
(MySQL, the Linux Kernel, for two handy examples) are. It is an oligarchy,
which in this case is not a bad thing, as the oligarchs (the 'Steering
Committee' or 'core') are not all employed by one company.Contributions to PostgreSQL are accepted without requiring copyright transfer
-- which is also a good thing.Altogether, this is one of the more open 'Open Source' projects -- and there
is a real community feeling here.
--
My guess is that Nusphere wants to create a MySQL community like ours.
Another aspect of the issue that Jan mentioned to me is that MySQL sells
a non-GPL version of MySQL. This doesn't have the GNU restrictions on
code additions, allowing proprietary binaries to be distributed like our
BSD license. They can do that because they have full copyright to the
code. Having an open-source community would prevent this. I am not
sure if Nusphere is distributing the GNU or non-GNU version of MySQL.
Perhaps that was part of their agreement with MySQL AB.
Overall, very confusing and sad to see.
--
Bruce Momjian | http://candle.pha.pa.us
pgman@candle.pha.pa.us | (610) 853-3000
+ If your life is a hard drive, | 830 Blythe Avenue
+ Christ can be your backup. | Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania 19026
It's open source *slap*, it's NuSphere *slap*, it's open source, *slap*,
it's RedHat Database....
Bruce Momjian said:
My guess is that Nusphere wants to create a MySQL community like ours.
Not sure you can "create" something like the PG community. I have to say that this is one of the most informed and overall polite (you can tell I'm British can't you :-) online communities I'm involved in.
The postfix lists have a lot of know-how, but people can be a little grumpy at times (mind you - if PG had to interoperate with hundreds of broken systems you'd get a bit fed up at times)
I'll take this opportunity to send a big "thank you" to all the PG developers not just for the software, but for the help they provide users like me (special mention for Tom who never seems to be off the lists and Justin for organizing techdocs which has blossomed over the last few months).
Another aspect of the issue that Jan mentioned to me is that MySQL
sells a non-GPL version of MySQL. This doesn't have the GNU
restrictions on code additions, allowing proprietary binaries to be
distributed like our BSD license. They can do that because they have
full copyright to the code. Having an open-source community would
prevent this. I am not sure if Nusphere is distributing the GNU or
non-GNU version of MySQL. Perhaps that was part of their agreement
with MySQL AB.
GPL and "ownership" of a project don't seem to mix without technical supremacy (not superiority - think air superiority vs supremacy). I can't see IBM's journalling FS for linux having the same problems.
I seem to remember there being a lot of pressure for MySQL AB to "open source" their DB when they went GPL. Part of their thinking might have been practicality - I spent half an hour reading through their licence, but I'm guessing a lot of people saw they could download it for free and left it at that.
Maybe they didn't plan out all the consequences though.
Overall, very confusing and sad to see.
Confusing - well, this sort of stuff is bound to happen as business meets open source - shame the lawyers had to get involved though.
Sad - definitely. MySQL is a bloody good bit of software (granted, not what you'd call a full RDBMS, but then you don't always need a full RDBMS).
Personally, I'm hoping they sort this out with the minimum of recriminations (I know I'm not switching lists in the next few years no matter how many optional transaction systems MySQL adds).
- Richard Huxton
Coming to a court near you...
*rolf*
Roll on laughing floor? :-)
--
Bruce Momjian | http://candle.pha.pa.us
pgman@candle.pha.pa.us | (610) 853-3000
+ If your life is a hard drive, | 830 Blythe Avenue
+ Christ can be your backup. | Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania 19026
Coming to a court near you...
*rolf*
Roll on laughing floor? :-)
Thanks for translation, Bruce -:)
Peter, is it way you joke or what?
Vadim
*rolf*
Roll on laughing floor? :-)
Yeah, it's hard to type when laughing...
- Thomas
Bruce Momjian wrote:
Coming to a court near you...
*rolf*
Roll on laughing floor? :-)
Roast On Light Flame!
Jan
--
#======================================================================#
# It's easier to get forgiveness for being wrong than for being right. #
# Let's break this rule - forgive me. #
#================================================== JanWieck@Yahoo.com #
_________________________________________________________
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On Sat, 14 Jul 2001, Bruce Momjian wrote:
Coming to a court near you...
*rolf*
Roll on laughing floor? :-)
He musta been really laughing! :)
Vince.
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