Recently (on April 19, 2010), Monty gave a Google Tech Talk, titled: MariaDB: The Backward Compatible Branch of the MySQL Database Server. The talk is under 47-minutes long, and the video is embedded below. Its a good introduction to what MariaDB has been up to for the last year+, aims, goals, and the future.

On this big trip, I made particular effort to finally visit Monty at his home near Helsinki. Somehow, in all my years at MySQL AB, this never happened – a sad omission. So, I spent the Easter days with Monty, Anna and now 5yo Maria.

I’m not a fan of most meetings, and in many cases in-person meetings are not actually necessary to get things organised or done, but I think this was both most enjoyable as well as productive for our respective businesses and joint interests. Good company, discussion, food, drink, sauna… fabulous.

It’s a great pity we live on opposite sides of the planet, as we do get along very well together. We definitely don’t agree on everything, but we’re always absolutely direct with each other, and try to provide good arguments whenever we disagree, to explore things further.

Monty turns his attention to the East. The value of JBoss to Red Hat. And more.

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For the latest on Oracle’s acquisition of MySQL via Sun, see Everything you always wanted to know about MySQL but were afraid to ask

# Monty Widenius predicted that the EU will clear Oracle-Sun “any moment”, turning his attention to Russia and China.

# Meanwhile the release candidate of MariaDB 5.1 is now …

You’ve probably seen Monty’s post Help Saving MySQL. This is about

1. Development (will Oracle put significant effort into MySQL, actually innovating)
2. Brand (”MySQL” has a huge footprint), the trademark owner can enforce this – there have already been issues with companies offering MySQL related services via Google AdWords not being able to use the word MySQL in their ad text even though it was correctly used as an adjective.
3. Forking is fine, but still has to deal with the branding. For MySQL, that’s possibly the most significant issue of any OSS product ever encountered. You’re not competing against a company, but against an existing brand footprint that you (because of the trademark) have to steer clear of. So “just fork it” is not an easy or short term option, there’s more involved than …

This alliance is an excellent step, showing the maturity, breadth and depth of expertise for MySQL related services! Of course Open Query is an active early member, with our training and subscription services, and initiatives like the OurDelta builds project.

Kudos to MontyW and PeterZ for driving this further while at the MySQL Conference last month.

My fellow countryman and Sun colleague Henrik Ingo is collecting “a Monument to Monty” on his blog:

I will be meeting Monty on this Friday (March 20th), in fact we will celebrate the start of his new company Monty Program Ab. (For the avoidance of doubt: No, I’m not joining it, I just happen to live nearby.)

I decided Monty leaving “MySQL Ab” at least deserves to be considered some kind of a milestone. After all, MySQL is the database that propelled the web to what it is today. When you think back 10+ years, there must be many memorable moments you have experienced with MySQL.

This is what I want to do: This page will be dedicated to Monty - consider it a monument to the father of MySQL. Please use the comment form below and write something nice, personal and MySQL related. How did you first start using MySQL? Or what was your …

MySQL is undergoing some organisational changes as part of Sun. Mårten Mickos (MySQL AB’s CEO 2001-2008 and SVP at Sun 2008-) is moving on in his life, outside Sun. This is independent of Michael “Monty” Widenius’ recent departure.

I’ve worked for Mårten ever since joining MySQL in 2001, in various capacities (VP Training, VP Consulting, VP Services, VP Engineering, CIO, and since 2005 VP Community Relations). I will obviously miss working with him. At the same time, I can understand and respect his decision to move on to something else, and wish him all the best, whatever his upcoming pursuits will be.

I owe Mårten much of what I’ve achieved in business during this century. I’ve known him since 1981, and counted him as a close friend ever …

Arjen & Monty @ LCA2009 in Hobart

I did a couple of sessions on OurDelta at the Linux.conf.au database miniconf: an overview of the project, a short delve into the features, and a “hacking the mysql server for dummies” which was found of particular interest. It’s a pity that session didn’t get accepted into the MySQL conference, it even had MySQL-uberguru Antony Curtis as co-speaker.

In the hacking talk in Hobart, I showed people the basic infrastructure of the source tree, then going through one particular patch and which changes it makes inside the server (and why). This is an excellent way to learn, as patches have a neat limited scope yet they do something significant. The good news is that the sessions were recorded, so when the LCA team finishes transcoding the hundreds of sessions we might be able to put ours up here!

Original author and MySQL …

Did you know that MySQL has stated principles for its products as well as for its employees. It's a bit more substantial than your average mission statement blah ;-)
Every person who once signed up to be an employee of the original MySQL AB essentially also signed for upholding these principles, but perhaps you haven't seen them. Since it is public info, why not take a peek!

To me personally, both lists have always felt mainly like a written down description of how Monty (MySQL's original author and co-founder of MySQL AB) likes to work (and I do see that as a positive thing). The product ones get quoted often enough, but not the employee ones, so here's they are:
We want the people working on MySQL to:

• Subscribe to the Open Source philosophy
• Aim to be good citizens
• Prefer partners that share our values and mindset …