My SQL, Your SQL or SCO SQL?
I read from MySQL website that the SCO Group, Inc. (Linux lawsuit fame) has entered into an agreement with MySQL AB to jointly deliver a certified, commercial version of the MySQL database for SCO Open Server 6, the newest release of SCO’s UNIX solutions platform.
This is what A.P.Lawrence has to say about it:-
Of course the vagueness about licensing is deliberate. RedHat does the same thing, as do other vendors who “support” GPL. Really, they use open source as a marketing tool and want you to be confused as to whether you can use the free version and even as to how to get it. It’s only when pushed against the wall, as MySQL was with regard to PHP’s use of MySQL that they’ll make unambiguous statements about acceptable use.
So it seems that SCO may be finally ready to learn some lessons about Open Source, and this deal could be more important in that regard than for any other reason. I’ve said before that if SCO wants to survive, they need to get on the Open Source train. With sufficient skullduggery, misdirection, obfuscation and fud, a company can be “Open Source” and commercial at the same time.
And this development has kicked up a row in the Open source circles as reported in the Forbes.com story. Here is its sequel in Groklaw.com
But what concerns us is the fact that many low-cost web hosting providers bundle MySQL as part of their “Package” (since it is perceived to be Free – as in “Free Lunch”!), along with PHP which has more or less been wed-locked by amateur programmers to develop many open source programs like the WordPress. What will come of them if the licensing conditions undergo a change? Will they have to migrate en masse to PostgreSQL?