Open source is fun, but real software costs money and Larry Ellison wants to keep it that way:
The database software giant’s $6.3-billion offer for PeopleSoft has intensified a debate about Ellison’s larger vision, which is that the software industry is embarking on a massive consolidation that would leave it in the hands of a few huge companies. He wants to make sure Oracle is one of them.
But…Ellison is counting on Linux to bring Microsoft down, and if that could happen, couldn’t MySQL bring Oracle down?
Just speculating.
Nah, not the same. Oracle actually has good technology.
Remember the saying about Windows:
“a 32 bit patch to a 16 bit hack to an 8 bit operating system,
originally coded for a 4 bit microprocessor, by a 2 bit company
that can’t stand 1 bit of competition.”
Maybe PostgreSQL…
Disclaimer: I am an employee of the Larry empire, but without any real loyalty (read: I cash his paychecks until I can get another job).
I think there’s still enough diversity in the DB space, what with IBM and MS still having appreciable marketshare (especially IBM, since Sybase and Informix are really non-starters anymore), that if MySQL or PostgreSQL actually became an issue with respect to eating away at Oracle’s marketshare, Oracle could just suck up the IP of either entity and not have any anti-trust issues.
That being said, I use both Oracle and MySQL regularly. MySQL is great for stuff like small/medium businesses, small/medium websites, etc., but it lacks a lot of the basic robust feature functionality that Oracle provides and doesn’t scale worth a damn by comparion.
Although MySQL will undoubtedly continue to improve, Oracle spends a lot of R&D dollars trying to continually enhance reliability and performance. Gotta be at the top of those TPC rankings, dammit! 🙂
IMHO opinion, Oracle has more to worry about in the Apps-Space than it does in the DB-Space, which is why they’re gunning for Peoplesoft.