Oracle is countering MySQL, Ingres and the like with its own low-cost programs and even a few free apps.
Marten noted that a year after Oracle acquired InnoDB, MySQL made an unexpected announcement at their annual Users Conference.
FORBES: How A Small Company Stole A Chunk Of Oracle's Marketshare
"Unlike IBM, Oracle and Microsoft, MySQL has never had 50, 000 features, but it does have maybe 10, 000 relevant features that are relevant to enterprises, " he says.
For one thing, it says, MySQL and Oracle's databases do not compete: the former is a relatively simple program used by many websites, while the latter is complex software that underpins corporate applications.
The commission is on firmer ground when it argues that the way MySQL is licensed would allow Oracle some control over commercial use of the program.
Just as cheap personal computers undermined the mainframe business in the 1980s and open-source programs like Linux and Mysql are challenging Microsoft and Oracle today, outfits like Fastcase are attacking Wexis' stranglehold on legal research from the bottom up.
At our Users Conference we surprised them (Oracle) by announcing them (as) MySQL Partner of The Year.
FORBES: How A Small Company Stole A Chunk Of Oracle's Marketshare
For Oracle the threat comes from such outfits as MySQL and Ingres.
Still, Oracle would probably accept a deal to spin off MySQL should the commission demand this as a remedy before January 19th, by which time a decision must be made.
Last December ten times as many came and on the stage were plenty of Europeans, including Marten Mickos of MySQL, a maker of databases now owned by Oracle, a software giant, Marc Simoncini, founder of meetic.com, Europe's largest dating site, and Niklas Zennstrom, who started Skype.
DaimlerChrysler, Siemens and UPS use MySQL, spending (so says MySQL) one-tenth of what they would have spent on the Oracle alternative.
DaimlerChrysler (nyse: DCX - news - people ), Siemens and UPS use MySQL, spending (so says MySQL) one-tenth of what they would have spent on the Oracle alternative.
If Oracle's acquisition of Sun Microsystems goes through, it will have an even bigger open-source portfolio including MySQL, a popular program for databases.
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