Marten Mickos wrote a blog about "hybrid" business models built around open source technology.  He lists a baker's dozen of models where the software is free but there is a revenue source that comes from somewhere else.  For example, there are models like SugarCRM or Zimbra where the base level product is free, but there are additional "enterprise features", or Mozilla where the software is free, but Google and others pay to generate advertising revenue.  A few of the models are slightly tongue-in-cheek.  Still, if you're thinking of getting into open source as a business, you need to be clear how you will make money.  Otherwise, you end up like Borland in model number 11, where the software is free, but you regret it.

Perhaps readers can throw in their own business …

And the link is...
http://www.mysqlconf.com/cs/mysqluc2007/create/e_sess/

I've submitted some papers on scaling and the storage engine
interface for next year's conference. The call for papers ends on the
7th so now is the time to submit all of those crazy schemes, hacks,
and projects you have put together in the last year :)

by Mark Schoonover & Mike Hiraga


Introduction

I had requirements to develop a multi-terabyte disk to disk backup system. I've used the usual backup to tape options, but once my company got past the 1 TB threshold, it was too demanding for tape. Some of the problems going to tape were:

1.Tape Libraries, big and expensive.
2.Backup window too long.
3.Restoration took a very long time.
4.Storage, and inventory of tapes too time consuming.
5.Very difficult for offsite storage with large amounts of data.

Concept & Requirements

I first read of the idea to use rsync as a way to keep directories synchronized in ?Linux Server Hacks? book from O'Reilly. Recipes #38, #41 and #42 provided a good beginning, and reading through this will give you a good idea on the basics. This …

C/ODBC comes with some command-line tools such as MYODBCInstaller.exe. MYODBCInstaller can be used to; register/deregister a driver or create/edit/remove a DSN. In other words - MYODBCInstaller can be used to manage ODBC system information.
Driver

An ODBC driver must be registered before being used. On most platforms this means adding entries into some text (odbcinst.ini) file. In the case of MS Windows it also means adding entries into the registery. A driver is deregistered by simply removing the entries. One complicating factor is that a UsageCount is maintained. The UsageCount is incremented each time a driver is registered and decremented each time the driver is deregistered. The idea is that the driver files should only be removed if the UsageCount becomes 0.

MYODBCInstaller handles adding/removing entries and inc/dec UsageCount but does NOT copy/remove files - that must be done by the caller. For …

Yesterday, I was testing various backup and recovery methods supported by ZRM for MySQL before 1.1.1 release. ZRM for MySQL requires binary logging to be enabled on the MySQL server. I ran out of disk space during testing and removed the binary logs. Accidently, I deleted the last binary log used by MySQL server. MySQL server uses the most recent binary log.

I could not start MySQL server again.

# service mysqld start

061031 17:38:48  mysqld started
061031 17:38:48  InnoDB: Started; log sequence number 14 1645228884
/usr/libexec/mysqld: File '/var/lib/mysql/mysql-bin.000017' not found
(Errcode: 2)
061031 17:38:48 [ERROR] Failed to open log (file …

This is a description of a simple backup strategy for MySQL. At the time of this writing, we were using MySQL version 4.1.21 in a master-slave replication configuration, described in a previous article . The replication setup forms a basis for the backup strategy and makes backup very easy while providing 24/7 planned uptime on the master MySQL server.

This is a description of a simple backup strategy for MySQL. At the time of this writing, we were using MySQL version 4.1.21 in a master-slave replication configuration, described in a previous article . The replication setup forms a basis for the backup strategy and makes backup very easy while providing 24/7 planned uptime on the master MySQL server.

For those who may not have believed it, the last two weeks we've seen proof that open source truly is a disruptive technology.  How is it disruptive?  It challenges the incumbents of closed source software, especially traditional enterprise infrastructure vendors.  That doesn't mean that closed source software is going away overnight, but the growth rates are slowing, license revenues are stagnant or declining and, most importantly, new applications are being built on open source. 

So not surprisingly, Oracle and now Microsoft, by their recent actions have proven that open source is disrupting their businesses.  Consider the following:

• Oracle announced they will fork Red Hat Linux, promoting a full stack
• …

Welcome to the 17th edition of Log Buffer, the weekly, human-edited review of news from the database blogosphere. There’s a lot to cover this week and not a moment to waste, so let’s begin. That 800-pound gorilla, Oracle Open World, has trundled back to its jungle home for another year, and a lot of bloggers [...]

Microsoft and Novell have announced a set of deals bunched together to create one of the most significant developments in the Linux versus Microsoft saga: technical collaboration, a so-called ‘intellectual property bridge’ (I-won’t-sue-you, you-won’t-sue me), and a joint support and services deal designed to counter the Oracle-Red Hat announcement of last week.

As this was breaking last night, our Open Source Practice Head Raven Zachary said, “Microsoft’s move to embrace Linux through an alliance with Novell is one of the most significant open source announcements to date. This announcement seems rushed, years in advance of what I expected from Microsoft, and clearly a response to Oracle’s announcement last week.”

First, the technical collaboration addresses three areas of threat by the open source world to Microsoft, to wit, server virtualization, web services management and open document formats. The companies will …