Jetlagged from transatlantic travel, I woke up in the middle of the Californian night thinking about what has changed since I arrived at the MySQL Conference in Santa Clara on Sunday evening. I was pondering all the questions MySQL users and Sun colleagues were asking at the event, and what the user base was thinking out loud on Twitter yesterday.

What has changed is obviously that Sun Microsystems and Oracle announced they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Oracle will acquire Sun.

What further changes we will see as a result of that is a different story. Evidently, I don’t sit in with a crystal ball predicting what will happen next. Nor do I have insight into Oracle’s plans for MySQL, once the deal is closed. Nor am I even in a position to comment upon the acquisition, so I won’t do it.

However, what I do know and what I can say is what has not changed with MySQL:

1. There still is a huge base of MySQL users out there. They have economic interests that are independent of whoever owns MySQL. The users in the MySQL community come in all flavors, ranging from casual users to those who intimately know the inner workings of MySQL and have contributed to the code base.
2. There still is a huge talent pool of MySQL experts in Sun Microsystems, in Support, in Consulting, in Training, in Engineering, in other parts of Sun. They have a strong loyalty towards the MySQL users they have served over many years.
3. MySQL is still licensed under the GPL. The GPL license used to form a safety net for the users not certain about whether MySQL AB would follow the spirit of Open Source. It continued to be so with Sun Microsystems. And the Open Source license continues to provide a safety net for its user base, regardless of the owner of MySQL.
4. MySQL has founders, one in particular, who still haven’t fallen off the face of the planet. Moreover, their passion for MySQL and its users continues.
5. Sun Microsystems still is a separate legal entity, practising what’s known as “business as usual“. This is familiar to MySQLers from the time between Sun’s acquisition of MySQL was announced mid-January 2008 to the closing at the end of February 2008. During the period between announcement and closing, we continue to behave as separate entities, even competing with each other.
6. Part of Business as Usual is a number of product announcements at the MySQL Conference this week. I’m looking forward to these!

While I cannot and will not personally speculate about what happens next, nor about Oracle’s intentions with MySQL, I think our users are looking to what the names most inimately associated with MySQL are saying — even if they no longer work for Sun Microsystems:

• First, Mårten Mickos, MySQL AB’s former CEO and long-time SVP at Sun, has several positive comments in his Forbes interview “Why Oracle Won’t Kill MySQL”.
• Second, Michael “Monty” Widenius, MySQL AB’s co-founder, also finds many positive things to say in his blog statement “To be (free) or not to be (free)“.

My humble suggestions: Keep using MySQL! Follow the announcements from the MySQL Conference this week! Keep helping each other within the MySQL community!

Go MySQL!

Señoras y señores, I am happy to have been part of the MySQL launch in Argentina yesterday. Visiting Argentina has been a great opportunity to meet with the MySQL users and not-yet-users in a country with 30 degrees Celsius, with colourful houses in La Boca, with an omnipresent Diego Maradona, and only minor challenges in the form of payment methods when using local transport.

On Monday evening, I visited the Universidad Nacional De La Matanza. Together with Sun Evangelist Ezequiel Singer, I met with university students, a surprisingly low proportion of which used MySQL (less than half). This surprises me mostly because I know South America as an area with a strong MySQL community, witnessed in part by the several MySQL employees from Argentina and Brazil, even at the point of Sun’s acquisition of MySQL.

Tuesday was the main launch day, with customer and press events, and a customer visit to the Government of Buenos Aires. I had the opportunity of describing the reasoning behind Sun’s acquisition MySQL’s integration process in Sun, and our plans for MySQL to run best on Sun software.

None of that may be news to the majority of MySQL users. However, it feels new and refreshing every time I have the opportunity to deliver the message to a new audience. And doing it in Argentina was a special treat, as it was the first time I delivered a speech in Spanish “without human intervention”. For my earlier presentations in languages I don’t speak (Italian, Japanese, Chinese, Czech, Turkish, Russian and Portuguese), I had asked Sun colleagues to translate my speech. This time, I asked Google Translate, like for my Italian and Russian blogs. This made it possible for me to deliver a more personal note, with last-minute changes, but also very innovative grammar. I alternately addressed the audience in singular and in plural, and also seemed a bit uncertain about which gender I should use for myself. I have now published the speech on my newly-opened Spanish blog http://blogs.arno.fi/poquito/.

The creative grammar didn’t seem to overly disturb the press, and today, there are reviews at least in Canal AR, Tecnozona and Portinos, including some excerpts below:

Canal AR: ¿Por qué Sun compró MySQL?

Para la ocasión, Sun Argentina contó con la presencia de Kaj Arnö, VP de MySQL y “embajador” de MySQL para Sun. Tal como explica en su blog corporativo, compartirá charlas con clientes de Sun y usuarios de MySQL, tanto en Argentina como en Chile y Uruguay. Por otra parte, curiosamente, Kaj publicó en su blog personal fotos de diversos árboles del Jardín Botánico de Buenos Aires.

Tecnozona: MySQL es de Sun… pero ya no es una novedad

Kaj Arnö, Vice President Community Database Group nunca se denominaría a sí mismo como un evangelizador. Este finés (no digas finlandés), cuyo idioma original es el sueco (no el finés) y que dice aprender varios otros lenguajes gracias a Google Translate, que se niega a ponerse los auriculares de traducción y que no pierde ocasión de un comentario humorístico es, por si hacía falta aclararlo más, todo un personaje.
Muy parecido al uruguayo Daniel Viglietti, Kaj (léase Kai) empezó leyendo en castellano y presentándose como el embajador de MySQL para Sun. Se refirió a las ventajas de tener Google Translate y la Web 2.0, gracias a lo cual tiene hasta un blog en español, aparte de haber traducido el discurso.

Portinos: MySQL promete conservar su esencia

Está en Buenos Aires el finlandés Kaj Arnö, vicepresidente de la comunidad de MySQL, la base de datos adquirida este año por Sun Microsystems, y asegura que se conservará su esencia de código abierto.

Kaj desempeña el rol de “embajador de la marca en Sun”, lo que lo lleva a reunirse con empleados y clientes a nivel mundial.

Kaj Arnô explicó la estrategia actual de MySQL y explicó que, entre otras, si seguirá siendo una aplicación free para la enorme base de usuarios particulares.

Bloggers.com.ar: La estrategia de Sun para My SQL

“Si nos miden en volumen de ventas el número puede ser chico, pero habría que sondear entre todos los que utilizan MySQL, incluido los usuarios de Oracle”, respondió a la pregunta sobre su base instalada Kaj Arnö (foto), vicepresidente de la comunidad de la base de datos MySQL que pasó por la Argentina para presentar formalmente la adquisición de Sun Microsystem. El ejecutivo, que venía de Chile y viajaba luego para Uruguay aunque la gira por los mercados emergentes también abarcará a China, enfatizó la importancia de la región para el negocio de la compañía: “Sudámerica es una región muy importante para el open source”, sostuvo.

INFOmail iTV por Fabián García:

No por nada, la presentación que dio Don Kaj Arnö – VP de la Comunidad de Base de Datos de Sun… o sea, un evangelizador/embajador de MySQL around the world – fue cortita, pasando los slides del ppt a toda velocidad, y luego estando a disposición para preguntas (* de paso, un capo Kaj… se notaba que tiene su caractercito el finlandés – o finés, aprendí que se puede decir de ambas formas -, pero se preparó todo un speech de intro en español – según él, traducido por Google Translate… aunque para mi estaba demasiado bien como para haber sido hecho por una máquina -, lo leyó muy pero muy bien, y fue muy gracioso – e igual entendía bastante el español - *)

Links:

• http://www.canal-ar.com.ar/noticias/noticiamuestra.asp?Id=6613
• http://www.portinos.com.ar/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4203:mysql-promete-conservar-su-esencia&catid=17:software&Itemid=36
• http://www.tecnozona.com.ar/?q=node/2148

Simon Phipps yesterday blogged about the emerging Sun Model for Open Source business:

As time has gone by, a clear “Sun Model” for open source business has been emerging, at least to my eyes. The summary of it is:

1. remove barriers to software adoption between download and deploy;
2. encourage a large and cohesive community of software deployers;
3. deliver, for a fee, the means to create value between deploy and scale, for those who need it.

Each software team at Sun interprets this model in a slightly different way, but the model holds pretty much everywhere and works regardless of the license for the code. As a business model, it doesn’t have much to say about the nature of the development community, but I believe dysfunction in that area is a barrier to adoption so it’s always an issue if dysfunction exists.

This model is the natural progression of the concept of monetising at the point of value, and I hope to explore it more over the coming weeks. Feel free to ask questions below about the things needing clarification.

Expressing the Sun Model this concisely is not easy. Just three points, two of which are one-liners at least on my screen. And at least MySQL follows it, not just to the spirit, but I’d venture to say we follow it even to the letter.

Impressive job, Simon!

Not everything is going the wrong way on our planet. There are things that are changing for the better! And one of them is South Africa. Just back from a three-day MySQL related trip to Johannesburg and Pretoria, I saw a lot of well-founded hope around me. The hope is related to less crime, less racial tension, and more economic growth. I share the positive vibes and think they’re founded in reality.

I was in South Africa for the yearly Sun partner event in “Sub-Saharan Africa” or SSA for short. SSA is one of the fastest-growing regions within what is known as “Emerging Markets”, which in itself grows faster than Europe, North America or Asia Pacific. And partners are extremely important, as Sun uses solely indirect sales in the region.

I was so impressed by what I saw that I wrote nine blog entries. As I didn’t want to spam PlanetMySQL nor blogs.mysql.com/kaj with nine separate blog entries, some of which were hardly related to MySQL, I wrote them on my newly-started private blog blogs.arno.fi/isit/. The name “/isit/” comes from an observation on how English is spoken in South Africa, but I made it up as an acronym for “It’s some interesting topic!“. On that site, I’ll be blogging on anything that interests me, in the humble hope that it also interests someone else.

My first nine blogs are all about South Africa:

1. Why I think South Africa is on track
2. South Africa: There’s hope!
3. The Government Wants You To Use A Condom
4. Jacaranda, the South African national weed
5. South Africa: Select your preferred language
6. Comune di Monte Casino
7. Four practical ways to learn a language: On the road, from a girlfriend, for the police, getting lost
8. South African breakfast: Worthy of an experiment!
9. “South Africa has many robots.” — “Is it?” — “Ja!”

Here are a few excerpts from some of them (but if you’re interested, do go to blogs.arno.fi/isit/):

Why I think South Africa is on track

1. Races happily mix! And respect each other!
2. Sub-Saharan Africa experiences explosive growth!
3. People have learned to live with crime
4. Foreigners get a needlessly negative picture of South Africa
5. White émigré South Africans are being encouraged to move back, by all South Africans
6. Even white South Africans are well seen in the rest of Africa
7. Afrikaans is alive and well
8. Re-naming of places and streets is limited

South Africa: There’s hope!

Encouraged by the openness of everyone I talked to (”oh yes, please go ahead, I’d love to read your non-MySQL related blog on South Africa!“), I wrote a short summary of what I see as the top reasons

The Top Ten Reasons Why South Africa isn’t the next Zimbabwe

1. There was a long tradition of democracy prior to the end of apartheid. [..]
2. The racial situation is not black and white. [..]
3. An allegedly “phenomenal” constitution. [..]
4. Nobody even attempting at changing the constitution. [..]
5. Politics becoming less aligned with race and tribes. [..]
6. Silly politicians being fired. AIDS is now, even according to the new South African minister of health, caused by HIV and not cured by garlic but prevented by proactively using condoms.
7. Security improving. On a customer visit today, we walked through central Johannesburg. That was in an area where my local host wouldn’t have walked 3-4 years ago.
8. The 2010 FIFA World Cup. The eyes of the world will be on South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010, and not just those of football enthusiasts. There was a huge positive impact in Germany 2006, both on the national identity and on the external perception of it. I think we’ll see something similar in 2010.
9. The large economic footprint of South Africa. It’s huge. MySQL downloads in South Africa outnumber those of downloads elsewhere in Sub-Saharan Africa by a factor of three.
10. Innovative public policy, at least in Open Source. Read Aslam Raffee’s blog. Open Source is being mandated by the government. That means South Africa is at the forefront in innovating public policy.

Personally, I could sense a mere fraction of the racial tension of my previous visit in 1993. On the dance floor at the Sun partner venue of Kievits Kroon, everyone mixed with everyone. I could see mutual respect.

Hey, why not invest in Africa? It’ll be the next boom market (and likely, one of the only ones in the current climate).

Four practical ways to learn a language: On the road, from a girlfriend, for the police, getting lost

George Swahi Moleko’s Tips for How To Learn Eight Languages

1. On the road. Meaning: On the street, in the township. For example in Soweto, people speak so many different languages that you pick it up from friends, when you grow up. That’s how George learned most of the languages.

2. From a girlfriend. Some of the South African languages are difficult to learn for a Sotho speaker. Then, George asserts, you need more motivation, and more intense exposure to the language: You need a girlfriend. George mentioned having used the girlfriend method for learning at least Venda, Tsonga and Nguni.

3. For the police. While having to do with the police might not directly teach you so much, it indirectly motivates you. George means that Venda speakers are hugely overrepresented in the South African police, and they’re likely to just reply “It’s the law! The fine is 500 Rand. Everyone has to follow the law.” if you complain in Sotho. But if you swap to Venda and say “My brother! It’s not my own car. I’m so sorry. I was in a hurry. Anyone can do a mistake, my brother!“, the policeman will be more understanding.

4. Getting lost. Not finding your way out, and having to rely on your environment, is a high motivator just like the previous item.

I hope you’ll enjoy these blog entries, as well as upcoming ones on blogs.arno.fi/isit/! And, if you’re a South African of any race, I hope you don’t see my commentary as offensive. It isn’t meant to be. I very much enjoyed your country, and respect what you’ve accomplished!

I was booked for keynoting the second MySQL Users Conference in Japan on 30-31 October 2008. Going to Japan is always something I’m looking forward to.

However, I won’t have that pleasure this time. I got requested to keynote a Sun partner event instead, on Tue 28.10.2008 at Kievits Kroon, just outside Pretoria in South Africa.

For Japan, I will be replaced by nobody other than David Axmark. I’m happy he gets the opportunity to do this keynote, transitioning from his current role to a consultant next month. I hope this also gives the press an opportunity to understand David’s motivations a bit better!

Yesterday, I completed a most significant emotional step in the integration of MySQL into Sun. As about 75 % of MySQLers had already done prior to myself, I migrated my main mail account from MySQL’s mail server to Sun’s.

Yes, I am still reachable @mysql.com. And I was already earlier reachable on @Sun.COM, in addition to my private @arno.fi. But now Sun’s email server is the one I use for both sending and receiving email. So this minor administrative step raises questions for me whether my signature should primarily feature my @Sun.COM email address, or whether I should remain @mysql.com. Luckily (strangely? sadly?) Sun allows me to follow my own judgement on this one.

A reason for happiness is that I am reachable as “kaj” on both @mysql.com and @sun.com. This relieves me from the humiliation of constantly seeing a new, unfamiliar garbling of my last name. In Finland, we’re of course used to foreigners not knowing the final three letters of our alphabet, “åäö”. So I’ve been garbled to “Arno” on occasion in my adult life. Dropping the dots and rings is a more or less official misspelling custom of email addresses in Nordic countries, so while it still hurts my eyes, it’s something I’ve grown accustomed to. However, the Germans misspell differently. They garble me to “Arnoe”. While each country has its own customs, and I tell myself to be respectful of that, I still get frustrated every time my name is violated.

So please email me on a first-name basis. As firstname@mysql.com, as firstname@sun.com, or as firstname@lastname.countryofcitizenship.

I usually haven’t been posting much about PostgreSQL even after joining Sun, so if I do, it must be something special.

And it is. Josh Berkus is leaving Sun, and Peter Eisentraut is joining.

Josh says:

After two years as Sun’s PostgreSQL Lead, I’m leaving to pursue other opportunities. This does not mean that Sun is dropping PostgreSQL; far from it. Instead my fellow core team member Peter Eisentraut is taking over my role leading the PostgreSQL team at Sun. With Peter’s experience in Oracle migrations and location near major Sun PostgreSQL customers, as well as many years leading the international team of translators for PostgreSQL documentation, he’s going to do a great job with Sun’s PostgreSQL development team. Probably better than me.

Peter says:

On July 22nd, 2008, I will be joining Sun Microsystems as PostgreSQL software engineer. Sun has been a valuable contributor to the PostgreSQL project for a number of years now, and I am looking forward to joining them in this effort. I am glad that I will be able to continue my personal role in the PostgreSQL project with the support of the great resources that Sun provides.

So, I expect that I will have more time to contribute to PostgreSQL development from now on, and both Sun and I have a sizeable backlog of projects and ideas that we would like to realize. Time to get started!

Over the years. I’ve met several times with both Josh and Peter. I’m sorry to see Josh go, but I have a feeling he won’t disappear from the FOSS database circles — so we’ll meet again! And I’m happy to get to work closer with Peter, whom I’ve just met a couple of times at German or French FOSS database events. And I heard Peter is evening me out in the balance of people moving between Germany and Finland, so let’s see where we’ll see each other next.

Links:

• Josh Berkus’s blog “Database Soup”: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/database-soup/
• Josh Berkus’s blog entry on leaving Sun: http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/database-soup/sun-rise-sun-set-26078
• Peter Eisentraut’s blog: http://people.planetpostgresql.org/peter/
• Peter’s blog on joining Sun: http://people.planetpostgresql.org/peter/index.php?/archives/30-New-Job-at-Sun.html
• Terri Molini’s blog on Peter joining Sun: http://blogs.sun.com/ontherecord/date/20080720