“So, I suppose MySQL’s main competitor is Oracle?” is a frequent question I get asked by the press. “Well, we don’t really compete heads-on with other databases. We co-exist! Just as an example: Over a third of respondents in an Oracle User Group survey said they also use MySQL”, I answer.

The reporter then continues “But everyone has a main competitor. Don’t you plan for people to migrate from Oracle to MySQL?”. I continue with “Not really. Migrations do happen, but not all that often. MySQL tends to be used in new applications.”

“But surely you must have some competitive atmosphere, or equivalent feelings towards Oracle.” The reporter never gives up. “Don’t you at least internally joke about your relationship with Oracle?”.

And that’s where I will now have a new answer for whichever reporter nexts goes down that line of reasoning.

So let me take that story from the beginning. My fourteen-year-old son has just started blogging about football, and his second blog entry is about an existential issue involving the moral values of loyalty and competition. After many years as a fan of Germany’s incumbent football team Bayern München, and after a not-so-great start of the season for the team, he went to a match with the local arch-rival TSV 1860. The 1860ers are not in the German First League, and they are somewhat of an underdog. And now he’s starting to question his loyalty towards Bayern München.

I shared his blog ponderings over email with the group of people formerly known as MySQL GmbH employees, one of whom saw a surprising analogy: Between Bayern München / TSV 1860 and Oracle / MySQL. It was so hilarious, that I dare share it, as a symbol of the type of stories we sometimes circulate internally. My son has two lists, “Why to stay with Bayern München” and “Why to switch to TSV 1860″. My colleague translates these football loyalty questions to database choice questions.

The blog is in German (as is my colleagues email), and instead of a complete but somewhat weird Google Translate conversion, I’ll here provide a slightly more polished translation (and the Oracle comments by my colleague in parenthesis):

These facts speak for continuing as a Bayern fan (… as an Oracle user):

1. I am still a member (I still use Oracle)
2. A sold-out stadium looks good (Oracle Datacenter looks good)
3. All my Bayern fan gadgets (all my Oracle fan gadgets)
4. The feeling of “Your hatred is our pride” (ditto)
5. German Premier League and Champions League, at least for the time being (ditto)
6. Some good players, such as Ribéry
7. I was always a Red [fan of Bayern], and “conversions” is bad form (I was always a fan of Oracle and …)

This speaks for a switch to TSV 1860 (… a switch to MySQL):

1. I’ll get tickets much easier (MySQL is lots easier to obtain)
2. My school is full of Lions [fans of 1860], I’d have fewer fights (there are so many MySQL Forums with helpful co-developers, even a MySQL Forum on Oracle)
3. The transfer policy of Bayern (the sales policy of Oracle)
4. The atmosphere in the stadium is somewhat better (the atmosphere at the MySQL user’s conference is clearly better)
5. Being an underdog feels good
6. More creative fans, including songs (there are creative MySQL songs, too!)
7. Sometimes when Bayern plays, you’re the only one who sings in your area of the stadium (plenty of MySQLers sing, even on YouTube!)
8. Frequently, Bayern fans are Bayern fans only “because they always win” (Frequently Oracle fans are Oracle fans and not Open Source fans, “because you’re not fired for buying Oracle”)

The conclusion, in database terms?

• MySQL co-exists with other databases, such as Oracle
• MySQL is often used for web apps in these coexistence scenarios
• MySQL focuses on applications that scale
• MySQL has a low TCO
• Oracle DBAs may want to add MySQL skills to their resume

Links, if you want to pursue the above thoughts:

• MySQL Resources for Oracle DBAs: http://www.mysql.com/news-and-events/oracle/
• MySQL TCO Savings Calculator: http://www.mysql.com/tcosavings/
• DBA Boot Camp: MySQL for the Oracle DBA: http://www.mysql.com/news-and-events/oracle/oracle_bootcamp/
• Oracle Users Indicate Increase in Use of Open Source: http://www.mysql.com/why-mysql/white-papers/mysql_wp_ioug.php
• MySQL Unlimited: Deploy an unlimited number of MySQL Enterprise Servers for the price of a single CPU of Oracle Enterprise Edition: http://www.mysql.com/products/enterprise/unlimited.html
• Lycos Europe Migrates to MySQL, Reduces TCO by 90%: http://www.mysql.com/why-mysql/case-studies/mysql-lycos-casestudy.pdf
• T-Systems Relies on MySQL: http://www.mysql.com/why-mysql/case-studies/mysql-tsystems-casestudy.pdf

I’m just back home from Brazil, where I went last Sunday in order to launch MySQL’s presence in Brazil and meet with MySQL users, developers, Sun customers, the press as well as with numerou Sun colleagues. “Is this your first time in Brazil?” was a frequent question (as one could expect), and I was happy to respond that it wasn’t. In fact, I have particularly fond memories of my first visit to Brazil in 2001, as that was the trip when I decided to join MySQL AB.

They say Rio de Janeiro is one of the most beautiful cities on the planet. Whoever “they” are, they’re right. The cone in the middle is Pão de Açúcar (Sugarloaf Mountain, der Zuckerhut, Sockertoppen).

As a European, I again noted that Brazil frequently feels much more like home than the US does. In Brazil, they use the metric system, they measure temperature in Celsius, they write dates and times of day in a familiar way, they cheer for Formula 1 drivers and they play football. My Brazilian colleagues and I fought a bit over whether Finland or Brazil produces the better F1 drivers, but despite Finland nearly beating Germany (thanks Jonatan Johansson, Mika Väyrynen and Daniel Sjölund!) in the World Championship qualifications last month, I had to concede to the football superiority of the Brazilians. Nonetheless, it felt good to meet with colleagues to whom I could describe the ethical dilemma my son Alexander faced (and explained in his newly started German language football blog) when MySQL 5.1 user Corrado Pandiani from Inter Milan sent him gadgets that on the one hand are objectively speaking very cool (such as a poster signed by Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Luis Figo and Marco Materazzi), but on the other hand represent a team which a Bayern München fan like him has hard to identify with.

But back to MySQL. This week, I had the pleasure of not just attending the Sun Tech Days including its press events, but also visit many customers in both São Paulo, Brasília and Rio de Janeiro. It’s great to see the broad interest for MySQL. Yet, the interest for MySQL in Brazil didn’t surprise me. We know from the download statistics that .br is a top five country for downloads, and more concretely, MySQL had a sizable following in Brazil already in 2001. When Mårten Mickos (MySQL’s then newly appointed CEO), Michael “Monty” Widenius (co-founder) and a number of friends of ours visited the Rio Carnival wearing MySQL t-shirts, we were stopped on Copacabana beach and asked whether “we are also MySQL users“. What a feeling it was, to personally experience recognition for MySQL over seven years ago, in a country where none of us had been before!

Ah, as I am walking down Memory Lane, let me share a few other pics from 2001 (the ones from this week are still in Philip Antoniades’s camera):

Mårten and Monty looking at where to go in the Rio metro. As this was during the pre-Sakila-lithic era, Monty wore an old, dragon type “mySQL” T-shirt (yes, lower case m).

Helvécio Borges Filho from EAC (to the right of me) hosted us in 2001, and over the years, we’ve met many times since at MySQL Users Conferences and elsewhere — such as last Tuesday at Sun Tech Days in São Paulo. Yesterday, Copacabana was quite a bit more rainy than above.

Cristo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer) at the Corcovado Mountain.

Monty evidently also wants to redeem (with Corcovado in the background). And I am always fond of teasing Monty for his taste for a particular artificial drink with a closed-source recipe.

As I’m sure you can tell, I was very impressed with Brazil both in 2001 and in 2008. I won’t wait seven years until my next visit!

Salle (MySQL EMEA Support Leader) just told me over IRC: “One has to be crazy to do the job Kaj is doing :)”. While it may not be mandatory, it does help. It also helps me in my free time, where I just climbed Mt Blanc with my fourteen year old son.

Die-hard marathoners or mountaineers I recommend to scroll towards the bottom. There, I have an account of the exact times and heights of ascent, how to survive Refuge Gouter etc. But let’s start from the beginning, in the spirit of the http://xkcd.com/77/ web comic “bored with the Internet”.

It all starts with a leisurely walk up the Gran Paradiso, 4061 m.

The usual sight is the heels of my son.

A MySQL cap protects me against excessive Sun.

It also helps when it’s snowy.

Valley panorama.

Specifically this view, of my son’s heels, was next to mandatory as I was tied to him with a rope.

Taking off some gear near the summit of Gran Paradiso.

The final ascent to Gran Paradiso.

Waiting for crossing the tough spot.

View from Gran Paradiso (it’s in Italy).

Alexander made it, too.

Father and son, and the Madonna. Austrians and Germans do “Gipfelkreuz” (a cross), Italians do madonnas.

A happy Alexander at Gran Paradiso. It was his first 4000 m high mountain, and mine too.

One step forward, and I would fall hundreds of metres.

I miss my 8 mm fisheye.

Hooray!

As long as we’re on the glacier, we’re tied to each other.

The glacier isn’t exactly clean.

And it has plenty of cavities.

Next day! More exercises. This is close to Courmayeur.

Taking off the shoes afterwards is rewarding.

No, I didn’t Photoshop the ski pole onto the … toilet cleaning device.

The true adventure starts! We’re heading up the Mt Blanc. Now, we’re at Bellevue, waiting for the railway.

The train is driven by a cog wheel.

Alexander, in anticipation.

The first day (out of two) has 1500 height metres. And it was the more arduous one. Headache. Not fully acclimatised.

It’s getting higher.

We’re now on 3800 m height, in the Refuge Gouter. That’s the one from which the ascent starts tomorrow.

The writing on the wall says in essence “if you come too late, don’t expect to get a place to sleep — and if you do, expect it to be on the kitchen floor”.

First dinner serving 18:00, second 18:45. And first breakfast at 2:30 (for those going for the summit), second at 8:00 (for when weather doesn’t allow you to go to the summit, i.e. those going back to the valley).

Alexander in front of the Refuge Gouter.

And myself.

Thomas and Abi, two of our three excellent guides from the DAV Summit Club — the trip organising subsidiary of Deutscher Alpenverein.

Father-and-son bonding.

My son thinks either this picture …

… or this one reminds him of the ZDF Wetterstudio, i.e. German weather forecast pic.

Beds at the Refuge Gouter are spartan.

Fellow DAV climber Frank admires the ZDF Wetterstudio.

I slept fully dressed: Trousers, outdoor trousers, three layers on top.

More father-son bonding.

It’s now about 2:15 in the morning, in Refuge Gouter. We ate, took our gear, and made ourselves ready.

2:54 Alexander and Kaj leave from Pole Position, lead by our fearless Mountaineer Abi. About 40-50 groups right behind us, breathing in our necks.

3:50One group passes us.

4:00 — 5:00 — 6:00 One step after the other. Endurance. This is not the worst part; waiting yesterday was. That made it into the most demanding physical endurance test of my life. It combined the next-to-worst aspects of a marathon (not the last few km, but almost) with height related headache and nausea, as well as the next-to-worst aspects of hiking in the Finnish army: Limits in stopping to dress (because it’s cold), undress (because it’s hot), or cater for some other physiological needs (drinking, eating, or the mirrored processes thereof).

6:20 on Tue 2.9.2008 We’re at the top, Mt Blanc 4810 m, as the second team! Whether it made much sense to hurry, is another story entirely.

Kaj at the summit.

Sunrise.

Sunrise, put into larger perspective.

Sunrise was indeed impressive.

More of it.

And more!

And more!

Myself, admiring the sunrise.

8:30 we were back at the Refuge Gouter. We had some spaghetti, and left again at 9:30. And back at the cog-wheel railway, we were at 13:05.

Mt Blanc the following morning, from in front of our hotel.

Same thing, but closer.

Ahh, and a final note. We drove home to Munich with a navi. We meticulously followed its advice, only playing with the language, in which the navi bossed us around. And according to the navigator, this is the main road between Chamonix and Munich. (But we refused to “Do a U-turn, if possible!” on this road).Technology is great!