A new start always provides an opportunity to reassess your way of doing things:

• “Am I doing the right things with my life?”
• “Which habits could I change — in order to be a better neighbour?” 

Since Karen Tegan Padir took over the MySQL product from Mårten Mickos, we at Sun have taken a thorough look in the mirror.  The result of this introspection allows us to publish our conclusions and new community commitments this week in conjunction with the MySQL Conference & Expo in Santa Clara. 

For those who don’t yet know Karen, let me state a few facts: 

• Karen is VP of Sun’s newly-founded MySQL & Software Infrastructure group
• She describes herself as a geek and a straight-shooter, and I can attest to both 
• She was …

With the delivery of MySQL 5.1 GA, our release policy sees a couple of changes in relation to that of MySQL 5.0.

First, initially we will deliver both MySQL Enterprise Server and MySQL Community Server in parallel. The bug fixes to the initial MySQL 5.1 GA releases will thus be delivered also in binary form for both MySQL Community Server and MySQL Enterprise Server.

Second, after a period of time, we will revert to the different release schedule for MySQL Enterprise Server and MySQL Community Server that we have been using. MySQL Enterprise Server will have more frequent binary releases. However, at this point, we do not have an exact date or a release number, when the first Enterprise only release will happen.

Third, we have done away with odd and even numbering. Whenever MySQL …