We have spent months planning and preparing for the MySQL conference that begins tomorrow. It seems appropriate to reflect on this process, where the open source and business communities are now, and what we have planned for the future.
The annual April MySQL conference was a strong and growing event for years, drawing hundreds of people at its peak. The conference has always been vital not only to MySQL and those who care about MySQL, but also to the many companies that use and enhance MySQL, and that contribute far more to MySQL than might be apparent. But after the acquisitions by Sun and Oracle, O’Reilly found it more difficult to promote the conference. When it became clear that Oracle wouldn’t change their mind about not supporting the event, O’Reilly did not announce a 2012 event.
That’s where Percona stepped in. We were not willing to let the conference die. Others talked about doing something, but Percona took the …
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