Dave Olson and I were discussing the recent Sun purchase of MySQL.

MySQL is a staple of the OS developers toolkit. With the announced MySQL acquisition by Sun, Wednesday Jan 16, 2008, for a billion bucks, I can't help but wonder, "What will this mean for developers (like me) using MySQL?"

Will the acquisition increase MySQL adoption or will the hardcore LAMP devs head towards a different database? There are other databases after all. Or will they be looking more at moving from Linux to Solaris?

Sun, under the leadership of pony-tailed CEO Jonathan Schwartz (let's see what he says on his blog about this) is outreaching to the open source community. Certainly, it's no secret that Sun is pushing Solaris as an operating system and (finally) seeing the light in terms of moving to a full GPL.

However, MySQL carries a different license than PHP so this could have a big influence on the LAMP stack, begging the question "What is the future of the open licensed version of MySQL?" Will Sun continue to allow free usage but only allow full features in a pay-for-use model?

How is Sun going to support LAMP stack when they have an in-house stack which competes against Linux? Will they support Linux or will they employ a "stick and carrot" approach to encourage migration to Solaris based servers?

Although Sun are heading towards fully open source and open standards, they are really behind other players. By bringing MySQL into their fold is a way of increasing their credibility in the open source world. Schwartz speaks to the deal and answers some of these questions in a self-imposed Q&A:

Will you change their platform priorities?

Absolutely not.

Why not?

Because the L in LAMP stands for Linux, not Looney. Customers prioritize MySQL's platform choices, not Sun. As with Glassfish, their number one download platform is still Windows - and we're very committed to those developers, as well.

Will you change MySQL's choice of license (the GPL)?

No. As you can see with Java, and with Glassfish (and NetBeans and OpenOffice), we're huge supporters of the GPL.

Are there cost synergies in the deal?

Nope.

Are there revenue synergies in the deal?

Everywhere we look.

As luck would have it Sun Microsystems was sponsoring a Launch party at the Lamplighter Pub just down the street from RCS. So I dropped in to schmooze with some of the folks from Sun to find out what they thought of the MySQL acquisition.

Rob Kyle and Ted Allard of Sun Microsystems said they were excited about the deal and hoped that the MySQL people felt the same way as well. In light of earlier acquisitions that Sun has made, they need to work to make sure that they 'do things right'.

For sure it will be an important objective of Sun to work with the Open Source Development Community and to take up an important position backing and supporting the use and adoption of MySQL.