Zimbra, previously known as Liquid Systems, is starting to emerge from stealth mode.  Last week at LinuxWorld in San Francisco, they exhibited in the MySQL booth (along with other LAMP based applications and partners) showing off their new open source email solution.  Maybe open source email seems like old hat to some folks, but Microsoft Exchange has a lock on IT managers around the world, and Zimbra is fully exchange compatible. It has its own rich web client and is also fully compatible with Outlook as well as any POP3 or IMAP email client. 

What that means is IT managers can start using Zimbra in conjunction with their existing exchange servers and get the full benefit of email and calendaring at a fraction of the price of Microsoft's closed source …

Even though MySQL is an open source company, there are some areas where we could do a better job being even more open. One of these is more regular publication of database benchmarks. Oddly enough, it's an area where MySQL shines.

When I joined MySQL in 2003, one of the reasons that attracted me was that even without a lot of marketing, it was clear what the major advantages of our products were: performance, reliability and ease of use. And of course, MySQL is open source. Those product characteristics were reinforced whenever I spoke to customers, partners and employees about MySQL. There were also some good outside proofpoints such as a benchmark by eWeek that provided credible third-party validation. We weren't just drinking our own Kool-Aid, so to …

This summer, C++ gone wild. These are brilliant:

int Log_event::read_log_event(IO_CACHE* file, String* packet,
                              pthread_mutex_t* log_lock)

and

#ifndef MYSQL_CLIENT
Log_event* Log_event::read_log_event(IO_CACHE* file,
                                     pthread_mutex_t* log_lock,
                                     bool old_format)
#else
Log_event* Log_event::read_log_event(IO_CACHE* file, bool old_format)
#endif

and

Log_event* Log_event::read_log_event(const char* buf, int event_len,
                                     const char **error, bool old_format)
        

Save me.

Yesterday, at the MySQL User Conference 2005, I hosted a Birds of a Feather session on MySQL and GIS. I spoke with a couple of guys from Trakm8, a company from Dorset, England. They have a very fascinating system built on top of MySQL’s GIS support and some of their custom tracking devices. They showed me their software and we discussed their platform. I gave them some (hopefully useful) tips regarding MySQL.

Their system includes an embedded PC, a GPS, and a GPRS modem (cell phone), and given some power is able to track a vehicle (or anything else) anywhere within coverage of the cell network. This is exactly the kind of people and projects/products I was hoping to get at my BoF session. As an aside, there’s a …