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Topic: Data Management

Oracle exec defends mySQL deal, shows off "much faster" version

Summary: Oracle today showed off the beta of a "much faster" MySQL and insisted that the company will continue to invest in the open source database.At the annual MySQL conference, Edward Screven, Oracle's Chief Corporate Architect and leader of the MySQL business, said the beta delivery of MySQL 5.

Paula Rooney

By for Linux and Open Source |

Oracle today showed off the beta of a "much faster" MySQL and insisted that the company will continue to invest in the open source database.

At the annual MySQL conference, Edward Screven, Oracle's Chief Corporate Architect and leader of the MySQL business, said the beta delivery of MySQL 5.5 along with the SQL Workbench 5.2, mySQL Cluster 7.1 and mySQL Enterprise Monitor 2.2 upgrades demonstrates the company's commitment to an open source database that some believed could threaten Oracle's stronghold in the database market.

mySQL 5.5, for instance, uses InnoDB as the default storage engine and offers a performance improvement of more than 200 percent and more than 10 times improvement in recovery times, Screven said.

What else? Semi-synch replication and more partitioning will be integrated into 5.5.

He also promised that Oracle will maintain mySQL Server's pluggable storage engine architecture and will continue to ship the same code for the community and enterprise editions.

Oracle purchased mySQL indirectly by purchasing Sun. The mega merger was completed in January.

It's clear that Screven objects to the characterization of the deal as a proprietary database software giant gobbling up a potential open source threat. Buying the M in the Linux-Apache-MySQL-PHP/perl stack is a natural addition for Oracle, Screven claimed.

"Oracle has the most complete LAMP stack ... [Unbreakable]Linux, Apache, Glassfish, mySQL ... even before the Sun [acquisition], we used Apache, Java and delivered developer plug-ins for Eclipse. Our virtualization is based on Xen," Screven said. "Open source is an integral part of our integrated stack, even before we bought Sun. By using and supporting open source, we speed up the time to innovation."

Screven emphasized that mySQL a nice complement to the Oracle database because it is lightweight, small, easy to install and offers improved performance on some web applications.

He also hinted at another key reason why Oracle bought the M in the LAMP stack: he noted that more customers deploy mySQL on Windows than on any other platform. That certainly gives Microsoft SQL Server a run for its money.

But it's clear that mySQL will know its place in the Oracle universe.

"It's a very good product ... it's a good technology and a good product but we'll invest to make it better," he said.

The Oracle exec also pointed to the newly-improved mySQL Workbench 5.2, which offers a better SQL editor, multi-pane results view, database adminstration including start and stop and data modeling.

mySQL Cluster 7.1, announced at the conference today, offers improved administration, new Java connectors and carrier grade performance.

mySQL Enterprise Monitor 2.2, another product in the post merger era, will offer improved performance monitoring and faster problem resolution.

Oracle will continue to support the community edition but tossed a carrot at mySQL enthusiasts to pay for the enterprise version. Oracle will offer free online backup for subscribers of the enterprise edition. Of course, free is a relative term and depends on the cost for that enterprise support.

Topics: Data Management, Data Centers, Enterprise Software, Open Source, Oracle, Software

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23 comments
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  • Sounds good

    A very good product getting even better.
    Richard Flude
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Oracle exec defends mySQL deal, shows off

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      gorians
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      • RE: Oracle exec defends mySQL deal, shows off

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        Juliety
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      • RE: Oracle exec defends mySQL deal, shows off

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        zdnet lover
        Reply Vote

  • The sky is falling!

    Oracle will kill mySQL and force everyone to pay for OracleDB! Yeah right. They are doing the smart thing by leveraging it to break M$ SQLsvr. They also leverage the Open Source community for innovation - something M$ doesn't do (innovation that is). It's not if, but when Larry is richer than Dollar Bill . . .
    Roger Ramjet
    Reply Vote

    • MySQL Innovative?

      What is innovative about MySQL? They are consistently years behind the other serious RDBMS's (Oracle, DB2, SQL Server, PostgreSQL) when it comes to implementing important database features. They were pretty much a laughing stock among database developers before version 5.
      steve@...
      Reply Vote

      • Innovative in pricing structure...

        that's about the only place left for innovation in the database market. It's a market that has reached functional maturity. Nothing truer can be said about the database vertical market than "Move along, there's nothing to see here."
        jasonp@...
        Reply Vote

        • You openly reveal your ignorance

          In addition, you obviously have eaten sour grapes and are hindered by tunnel vision, selective blindness, and a limited understanding of the direction of technology.

          "Edward Screven, Oracle?s Chief Corporate Architect and leader of the MySQL business, said. . .mySQL 5.5. . .offers a performance improvement of more than 200 percent and more than 10 times improvement in recovery times. . .[and] Semi-synch replication and more partitioning" [Rooney, P. (2010, April 13). Oracle exec defends mySQL deal, shows off "much faster" version. Linux and Open Source. Retrieved April 14, 2010, from http://blogs.zdnet.com/open-source/?p=6250].

          Do you understand any of the above or how significant this is for Oracle's mere three months of ownership and enhancements? Are you ignorant of developments in the storage, searchability, and retrieval of images and sounds? Security enhancements? Live data management? Etcetera?
          Isocrates
          Reply Vote

          • Stop drinking the bong water...

            and go consult a dictionary. Learn the difference between enhancement and innovation. Next, try working for a while. Learn the difference between improving an existing process and creating a new process because the existing process has inherent limitations. Once you understand that difference, you'll understand the non-academic meaning of innovation and how it truly is different from enhancement. None of the things you cited are innovation. Heck, some (storage/retrieval of images and sounds???) have been around for decades. To call that innovation today would be like calling Toyota an innovative company for installing cd players in their cars...20 years ago it would have been but today? Don't think so.
            jasonp@...
            Reply Vote

          • Following your logic nothing in Windows is innovative.

            [b] [/b]
            AzuMao
            Reply Vote

          • Ding ding ding ding...

            We have a winner.
            jasonp@...
            Reply Vote

      • What is your point?

        Your grousing sounds antiquated.

        Under Oracle's oversight, greater innovation was just announced and MySQL appears to be on an upward trend to a strong position in the database market.
        Isocrates
        Reply Vote

        • What specific changes were innovative?

          We'll be eagerly awaiting your response.
          jasonp@...
          Reply Vote

  • Maybe the whining will stop now?

    We shall see.
    No_Ax_to_Grind
    Reply Vote

    • Huh?

      Don, while I agree with you completely, I also have to point out ... Look who's complaining about whining!

      Look, free GPL software is here to stay and it has to find a way to coexist with proprietary software which is also here to stay AND visa versa.

      The two are not toxic to one another as some assert. Certainly people on either side can and do do things that cause bad things to happen, but it doesn't have to be that way. These are two centers of power that can achieve a balance and we can have a better world for it. Neither side is the be all and end all. Contrary to popular opinion, both approaches do have a business model, no software product, free or proprietary, without a business model can get very far. It is just that a lot of people on either side don't really understand the other side's business model. The sky has not fallen with Novell/Suse/Microsoft and it will not fall with Oracle/mySQL.
      George Mitchell
      Reply Vote

  • Will Oracle play it smart with mySQL?

    This shows that Oracle appears to be headed in the right direction. MySQL can be of great value to them. For all its capabilities, it will remain a basic database when compared to Oracle's vast proprietary product with all of its exotic features. With mySQL, Oracle can offer a top rate free product to emerging businesses, gain the opportunity to sell services to them (Red Hat like), AND gain the potential opportunity to upgrade them to their proprietary database later on. The proprietary Oracle database must ever push upward in order to keep competitors at bay, and mySQL can tag along behind with the power of Oracle engineering and expertise behind it, outrunning other free databases. How can this be bad for Oracle as a company? It really sounds like a winner to me.
    George Mitchell
    Reply Vote

    • Careful PR could help them too.

      Genuine support of MySQL certainly could help Oracle's public image, which has slipped a lot since the buyout. Good documentation, clear and accurate product descriptions (no corporate goobledygook) would help the public to see Oracle as an overall nice company.
      What they also need to do is to offer clear recommendations for when MySQL deployment is appropriate, and when they would see the need to use Oracle DB (in other words, when and why you SHOULDN'T be using MySQL).
      peter_erskine@...
      Reply Vote

  • What about opensolaris?

    Sure, Oracle will open source something if it is their interest. But what about opensolaris? Oracle's silence on their plans for opensolaris is deafening. We can only surmise they are frantically trying to figure out what to do with this OS behind the scenes, and how to make money with it. They should adopt the RedHat model: make opensolaris the breeding and testing ground for new features, encourage developers to write for it, and then incorporate the new feature into Solaris, which they can charge money for (at least for maintenance).
    cjc5447
    Reply Vote

    • I think you have good ideas

      I have downloaded but yet to install OpenSolaris (too many things to do). I have great interest in reviewing OpenSolaris for myself and certainly hope they adhere to Sun's (or Red Hat's or Novell's) model of the open and the supported Enterprise versions.

      As customers, we business and private users, much prefer today's models that allow us to "try before we buy," which derives from the shareware model.

      I visited Planet OpenSolaris (http://planet.opensolaris.org/) at OpenSolaris.org (http://www.opensolaris.org/) and found I have nothing to worry about.
      Isocrates
      Reply Vote

  • I'm surprised to learn this.

    [i]He also hinted at another key reason why Oracle bought the M in the LAMP stack: he noted that more customers deploy mySQL on Windows than on any other platform.[/i]

    I'm surprised it's not Linux.
    ye
    Reply Vote
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