Sun CEO Explains MySQL Acquisition

Sun Microsystems made headlines last week when they purchased MySQL AB, creators of the MySQL database platform, and not surprisingly, many were confused and unsure of what to expect. It’s all for good reason too – when a huge acquisition takes place, especially where a piece of widely-used software is concerned, people have the right to be curious.

To help clear up questions and concerns, Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz wrote a hearty post on his blog that details all immediate questions, including why the purchase was made, how it came about and potential changes to MySQL. After reading, you might just feel better about the acquisition. There is also a roundtable video at the end of the blog post for all of you interested.

Regarding PostgreSQL: “It grows. The day before we announced the acquisition, and within an hour of signing the deal, I put a call into Josh Berkus, who leads our work with Postgres inside of Sun. I wanted to be as clear as I could: this transaction increases our investment in open source, and in open source databases. And increases our commitment to Postgres – and the database industry broadly. The same goes for our work with Apache Derby, and our JavaDB.”

Source: Jonathan Schwartz’s Blog