Version 1.1.3 of Zmanda Recovery Manager (ZRM) for MySQL, an enterprise solution for backup and recovery of MySQL databases is available for download at Zmanda downloads page.

Changes since 1.1.2 release:
* Supports Ubuntu Edgy (6.10) release
* Works with MySQL enterprise 5.0
* User configuration for custom plugins
* Bug fixes

Documentation is available in ZRM for MySQL wiki. Please use forums to provide feedback on the release.

Thanks to all users for providing valuable feedback as well as finding bugs in earlier
releases

Last month, Paddy gave a great webinar on ZRM for MySQL. The playback is available as part of documentation in Zmanda Network, at no cost. You can register to Zmanda Network here. As a follow-up, we will be hosting a very hands on webinar on configuring ZRM for MySQL this Thursday, the 14th of Decemeber at 10.00 am PST. You can register for this webinar here.

I'm flying back from Alfresco's quarterly management meeting, and looking through some of the data shared by the team. We're just one company in a rising tide of open source companies, so I'm not sure how much to infer from our numbers about open source, generally, but I thought I'd share, anyway. Perhaps the data will be useful for you, too, as you plan your own open source business.

A few points:

1. Lead Generation. Alfresco's website (Downloads/product trials) drives 72% of our leads, and documentation drives another 21%. Cold calls from sales people, direct mail, email, Google Adwords, and other sources you might imagine...almost nothing. To be fair, we don't really do direct mail or email campaigns yet, so it's not surprising that these bring in few leads.

   But we found (as SugarCRM and MySQL found before us) that PR, which leads to visits to our website …

Digital music sales seem to have peaked, as Nick Carr highlights on his blog, and as the WSJ recently reported. [Subscription required.] For this reason, EMI is beginning to experiment with non-DRM protected music files: MP3s.

For many in the music business, the sky is about to fall. Or so they think. "Why will anyone buy our wares if we don't force them to do so by preventing copying?!?"

What they don't realize is that the people who don't buy from them won't buy from them, DRM or no. The people that aren't thieves (and that's most of us) will, but convenience of purchase is key. I don't buy from iTunes because I can't get the files elsewhere. I buy from iTunes because it's a safe, super-convenient experience …

These companies have fought long, hard battles to get Open Source into the corporate data centers.  It was an uphill battle, requiring education on a concept new to many people.  They couldn’t just blaze a path for themselves, they had to prove an entire business model; explain its viability, its resulting products, and value.  The developers and executives at these companies fought a hard, honest war and have established a beach head.

The Marines have blazed the trail.  No mucking around with convincing a CIO that “not just anyone can update their source automatically” and that Open Source companies can generate real value, revenue with a product you COULD …

From me, to Ross and license-discuss:

Socialtext which wishes to find a resolution for the attribution issuethrough the proposal of a Generic Attribution Provision.  A copy ofthe following message is available in HTML format here:https://www.socialtext.net/stoss/index.cgi?attribution_memo

I look forward to the conversation,

Ross, as I commented on a ZDNet thread, you’ve earned my respect (not that it matters) by bringing your license to OSI and having a real discussion about UI attribution.  I’m one of the critics of UI attribution licenses, but I’m glad someone brought it to place where forced UI attribution can be vetted to OSD in a reasonable manner.  I do hope you receive the criticism of this provision in that light.

needs than Linux. These application products could be “lost” in thelarger distributions. The …

DBA’s working in environments where MySQL database is for production critical applications are constantly pushed to their limits. Database Users and DBA’s are humans too. So, a dropped table here or a misconstrued MySQL statement there is not out of ordinary. Recovering from these kinds of user errors is extremely vital to production databases. Zmanda Recovery Manager (ZRM) for MySQL, is a good way to recover from user errors. Consider this example - You [DBA] find out that an user has made an unforced error which is affecting your production database. You further find out that this has happened in the last half hour. Lucky for you, you use ZRM for MySQL in your environment to make nightly backups. You spring into action! You first verify that a nightly backup was run. You then make an incremental backup now. Using ZRM for MySQL, you identify the point at which the user …

Pam @ Groklaw is tracking Novell's marketing efforts around SUSE Linux, post the Microsoft pact. Novell's UK office has started blanketing the inboxes of its customers with patent FUD:

The patent cooperation agreement enables Microsoft and Novell to give customers assurance of protection against patent infringement claims. It gives customers confidence that the technologies they use and deploy in their environments are compliant with the two companies’ patents.

As part of this agreement, Microsoft will provide a covenant not to assert its patent rights against customers who have purchased SUSE Linux Enterprise Server or other covered products from Novell, and Novell will provide an identical covenant to customers who have a licensed …

David Kaefer, the director of business development for intellectual property and licensing at Microsoft, is on the record as saying a rather curious thing:

We've been very clear from the outset, and the financial realities of the deal underscore this, that Novell's patents have value. One need only go back to the late 90s with Novell's leadership in the directory space to recognize the benefits of much of the research and development that they conducted at that time.I'm sure this is true; at least, I'm sure it's true (in fact, I know so) that Novell's patent portfolio is significant. Not nearly as extensive as Microsoft's, but significant in its own right.

But let's assume David is telling the truth. If so, then Microsoft, not Novell, …

Mark Webbink, Red Hat's deputy general counsel and secretary, looks at the Microsoft/Novell agreement through a historic lens...

As a history buff, reading the Novell and Microsoft open letters this morning conjured up the image of British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain standing in front of 10 Downing Street in 1938 and declaring: "My good friends this is the second time in our history that there has come back from Germany to Downing Street peace with honor. I believe it is peace in our time."

We all know how well that turned out.

...and discovers that all that glitters is not gold:Microsoft's principal objective in this exercise was to get someone ostensibly from the free and open source software community to acknowledge the tacit validity of Microsoft's patent portfolio. And despite Hovsepian's protestations to the contrary, …