If you were still wondering what Oracle was going to do with its newly acquired MySQL database (other than write-off the ridiculous $1 billion that Sun paid for the open source leader), the answer just arrived in my email inbox: Oracle plans to trash-talk MySQL to death.
In case it needed to be made any clearer, here’s what Oracle is pitching for its “get MySQL outta-here” webinar on April 28th:
As the global economy slows down, companies continue to look at alternative technologies that they feel are more cost effective and will save money on their bottom line. Learn why choosing an Oracle technology platform lowers the total cost of ownership for your company during this live, interactive one hour program. Tony Tarone, the Director of Operations at Cedar Document Technologies, will discuss how he gained a reliable, scalable, secure, and cost effective platform by moving from MySQL to Oracle. Here is the agenda for the session:
- Oracle Database Overview
- Cedar Document Solutions
- The Move to Oracle for Cedar Documents
- Oracle comparison to MySQL
- Live Q and A with Tony Tarone, Cedar Documents Director
That was fast work, wasn’t it. The corpse isn’t just still warm, it’s not even a corpse yet. The question is whether there will be anything to sell after the trash talk seminar series is done working its magic. The other question: Could Oracle care less?
I doubt it.
Those organizing this campaign were probably not privy to the acquisition, it was probably long in motion beforehand…
That said, I don’t forsee MySQL faring well in the future…
Dave’s right on this one…. this sort of thing is usually planned waaaay in advance, and marketing folks certainly aren’t privvy to acquisition details (except at maybe the highest levels).
You’ll probably see token support for MySQL, with serious incentives to moving up to the big leagues with Oracle DB.
I’m not going to disagree with either of you — though I would argue that the decision not to cancel or postpone this — and continue to promote it as was done yesterday — was made after the deal was announced. That probably lends more credence to my admittedly snarky post: If the top management at Oracle was in doubt about MySQL, they probably would have pulled this event to keep their options open.
Josh
Oracle will likely rebrand mySQL just as it did with its OLAP and in-memory database acquisitions. It won’t die; it’ll become another option in their portfolio.
I disagree. The same fears were expressed when Oracle bought Rdb from Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC). Oracle supported the Rdb customers, extended the product, and grew the Rdb business.
Oracle knows how to make money with software, whether it is home-grown (Oracle database), purchased (WebLogics, PeopleSoft, Siebel) or open source (Oracle Unbreakable Linux). I think they will make money supporting MySQL customers, while encouraging them to move to Oracle database as the customers requirements increase.
Josh, I really hope this blog was written tounge-in-cheek. Was this an execution error? Absolutely. Certainly this was planned prior to the public announcement of our intent to acquire Sun. Does one webinar = company strategy? Of course not.
KT
Thanks Karen for clarifying…I look forward to hearing the comprehensive strategy when it becomes available.
Josh