Dear Commissioner Kroes,
Last week, former MySQL CEO Mårten Mickos wrote you a letter urging approval of Oracle’s takeover of Sun Microsystems1, asserting that Oracle’s ownership of MySQL (as part of the Sun acquisition) will increase competition in the market.
As a long-time MySQL user, a former MySQL AB staff member2 and a participant in or consultant to a wide range of other open source and free software projects3, I found Mårten’s conclusion to be optimistic at best.
Oracle’s ownership of MySQL will lead to what the commission fears – greater costs and less choice in the DBMS market.
In making this point, I’ll challenge the three …
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