MySQL co-founder David Axmark says "Oracle has no real reason to support" the open-source database it's trying to acquire as part of Sun, but he also says "I doubt they'd 'kill' anything." Rather, the real intrigue will center on what happens when Oracle's database customers want to migrate downstream to MySQL.From a cbronline.com article quoting Axmark:

"Will they aggressively sell to companies that Oracle can sell to? Never. Will it hurt the current MySQL customers? Probably not. There's no money to be made for them there. Upselling current MySQL customers to Oracle would be tiny money. Stopping Oracle customers from downgrading to any open source database will be lots of money."

Axmark also offered a common-sense perspective regarding how Oracle and MySQL might peacefully coexist-and as you read it, you'll see that the scenario he paints is so blindingly obvious that one must wonder what other-worldly scenarios were being imagined by the bureaucrats of the European Union to cause them to squander several months and several hundred million dollars (of other peoples' money, of course) in their foggy deliberations over whether or not to allow the deal to be consummated.

As he says in the cbronline.com interview:

Axmark also believes that aiming MySQL at a market where Oracle's existing database applications do not operate will mean that the two can coexist. "If I was Oracle, I would aim MySQL even more at the web sector, where Oracle doesn't really have anything. So more development, more uses and they don't really lose any revenue. I wouldn't aim it at the enterprise sector where Oracle already is."

It also doesn't hurt MySQL's chances that Oracle has released to the EU and the public 10 long-term commitments it is making to MySQL, which we covered one month ago in Oracle Makes 10 Commitments To Seal EU Deal. Here's an excerpt:

The list includes a strong commitment to enhance the open version of MySQL under the GPL in parallel with any enhancements to Oracle's own Enterprise Edition.

Another highlight concerns Oracle's promise about freedom of choice for support: "Customers will not be required to purchase support services from Oracle as a condition to obtaining a commercial license to MySQL." While the deal's intractable ideological opponents will no doubt concoct all manner of strained arguments about why these 10 commitments don't go far enough, I'm betting that the combination of these 10 promises from Oracle, plus the overwhelmingly strong customer comments presented late last week to the EU bureaucrats, will seal the deal in Oracle's favor.

The list includes a strong commitment to enhance the open version of MySQL under the GPL in parallel with any enhancements to Oracle's own Enterprise Edition.

Another highlight concerns Oracle's promise about freedom of choice for support: "Customers will not be required to purchase support services from Oracle as a condition to obtaining a commercial license to MySQL." While the deal's intractable ideological opponents will no doubt concoct all manner of strained arguments about why these 10 commitments don't go far enough, I'm betting that the combination of these 10 promises from Oracle, plus the overwhelmingly strong customer comments presented late last week to the EU bureaucrats, will seal the deal in Oracle's favor.