New SelectViews SQL Server Show
[Watch Now] A SQL Server problem triage plan and approach, a pet peeve about open source, public domain software, current release versions and more. Also on the show, the 60-second SQL Server tip of the day, upcoming events, the newsletter and discussion list watches and other goodies.
Also Available
[Watch Now] SQL on Call – answering viewer questions
Free Software (Really)
Have you seen the new job manager from Idera? It will help you manage jobs across servers, drag and drop job schedules, move jobs between servers and a whole lot more. They are giving it away free – no strings (not even a trial) – until January 31, 2008. Get your copy here and put it to work!
MySQL Acquisition Issues with Sun
I’ve been following this whole MySQL thing to see how it plays out. At first blush, wow – it’s a lot of cash for the business they’re buying. Justifying it is interesting to see Sun try to do. I won’t get into specifics and their arguments, but what I thought was really telling is the amount of press that the deal is pulling in. Not good press, either.
This article from Interop News (first spotted referenced on Slashdot) talks about how this will really work. I noticed a few things that make me say "YEAH! What about that anyway?!?"
"It appears though that the additional features of the Enterprise version are not enough to compensate for the revenue-destroying effects of the free Community alternative."
This has been my issue with "open source" and/or "public domain" companies that try to make the jump to a more "mainstream" (don’t jump on me for my terminology – you know what I mean) company or offering. It seems like they start with a community-based idea and then, in the rush to capitalize, the idea takes a beating. How do these companies expect to really thrive in this type of situation? I just don’t get it.
I had another experience about this that I talked about on the show today too – sort of a pet peeve. I was talking with a company that offers free, open source, public domain software for a specific function. In talking with them, as soon as you’re not installing the default code, if you’re not an expert in their system, you need to get help. Well, of course. But, that help (remember, free software) amounts to more than $15,000 per year. Hmmmm. In the same breath (I’m not kidding) they bragged about being "so much cheaper than commercial alternatives."
I was blown away.
I know, I’ll get hate-mail for talking about this – but the open source and public domain worlds face a very strong disconnect when they suddenly realize they want to eat, er, capitalize on the software. I look forward to watching how things unfold with Sun – and how they’ll turn up the revenue model for MySQL without killing that "free community alternative" passion.
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