I can comment on these rumors, because that's all they are to me: rumors. I have no inside knowledge on this. But there has been a growing cacophony of noise that JBoss is going to be acquired. What started out as an HP rumor, turned into a Novell rumor, and has comfortably settled in to stay as an Oracle rumor.

So, let's just pretend Oracle buys JBoss. What would be the result?

On the Oracle side, it's a chance to shore up the company's open source credentials. It's also the opportunity to pillage IBM, something which Oracle is wont to do. (JBoss, of course, makes money for itself, but it also takes money from IBM and BEA - lots of downloads that would otherwise be forking out cash to these BigCos.) Oracle also would get the chance to lower …

SciBit is proud to announce the release of the MyComponents API packages for interfacing with RemObjects' DataAbstract.

This release includes packages for both the VCL as well as the standalone DAD driver for MyComponents. This API will become part of any future releases of MyComponents.

You can now use your favourite remote objects with your favourite MySQL components just as you would have used an ADO or IBX connection. The new API is available on the MyComponents website

So if you open up a version of 5.1 that you build from bk right now you will find this:

mysql> desc slow_log;

+----------------+--------------+------+-----+------------------- +-------+

| Field | Type | Null | Key | Default | Extra |

+----------------+--------------+------+-----+------------------- +-------+

| start_time | timestamp | YES | | CURRENT_TIMESTAMP | |

| user_host | mediumtext | NO | | | |

| query_time | time | NO | | | |

| lock_time | time | NO | | | |

| rows_sent | int(11) | NO | | | |

| rows_examined | int(11) | NO | | | |

| db | varchar(512) | YES | | NULL | |

| last_insert_id | int(11) | YES | | NULL | |

| insert_id | int(11) | YES | | NULL | |

| server_id | int(11) | YES | | NULL | |

| sql_text | …

By tim

We've been running a technology futures market with Yahoo! Research for the past year. Participants try to predict the "buzz" around technology in a fantasy stock market. The results are measured against the actual search volume on Yahoo! And that's what's most interesting to us at O'Reilly, as we're trying to find data sources that give us some "hard numbers" about the technology trends that we are exploring.

I was just browsing the buzz game, and discovered something that surprised me. While the futures market still has its money on Eclipse, in the past year Netbeans has passed Eclipse in actual Yahoo! search volume.

Here's a brief …

I must admit I’d given up trying to get MySQL Workbench working under Linux. I guess I’d spent at least 4 or 5 days full time at it, and it was just out of my league, with GTK and C++ errors. It had seemed like a loosing battle, I’ve had 3 detailed documented goes at 1.0.0. Last Post 19th Jan, and 2 with 1.0.1 Last Post 31st Jan.

Anyway, the good news is I now have MySQL Worbench working under Linux. I’ve been working with MySQL AB on a number of specific problems and you should expect a release from MySQL AB soon to address these. Here is a summary of my experience.

• 1.0.1 removes the requirements for java dependancies
• 1.0.1 provides a README.linux with configuration requirements, and a subset list of minimum library …

It is not uncommon for me to be involved in various projects as a mediator or coordinator. In these roles, it is sometimes important that people understand who I work with and what affiliations I have. While this is a partial list, it is still complete enough to be useful.

Current Affiliations

eZ systems AS: Managing Director, North America (paid staff position)I have worked with eZ systems since March of 2005. My first role there was as their Director of Free Software and Open Source Affairs. Mozilla Foundation: Factotum (paid staff position)I have worked with the Mozilla Foundation since July of 2005. Free Software Foundation (Volunteer and Associate Member)I have volunteered with the Free Software Foundation since July of …

Markus Popp's post (Foreign key dependencies) on how to print a nicely formatted list of table dependencies is just one example of how information_schema, stored routines and dynamic SQL in MySQL 5.0 not only ease the life of developers but of each and every DBA. Even if there are still a few obstacles in the way with current release 5.0.18 to realize all the DBA's dreams (see also my post on table checksum), we can still expand the example to automatically remove all dependencies.

Markus used all three of the above new tools, including dynamic SQL via PREPARE stmt_name FROM …. However there are two restrictions on dynamic SQL within stored routines that will often result in DBAs still using external scripting languages instead of pure SQL:

…

Here’s a great thing for those who need to work with multiple platforms, VMware today announced that they are dropping VMware Server GSX and replacing it with the free (as in beer) VMware Server.

A press release on the change can be found at http://www.vmware.com/news/releases/server_beta.html

A product page for VMware Server is available at http://www.vmware.com/products/server/

VMware Server is the second offering from VMware, the first being VMware Player.

As with VMware Player, VMware Server is available for Windows and Linux host machines, with VMware Server able to run able to operate on one machine and be managed from another.

While the VMware Server is a bit of overkill for …

BusinessWeek delivers an online-only report on Open Source this week.

Taking On the Database Giants
Can open-source upstarts compete with Oracle, IBM, and Microsoft? It's an uphill battle, but customers are starting to look at the alternatives

Nuclear War over Software Patents?Richard Stallman's Free Software Foundation wants radical rule changes for open-source code. Others disagree. Can diplomacy save the day?

Linux Everywhere?
It's quickly -- and usually quietly -- spreading into more and more services and devices, from e-mail to cars

…

BusinessWeek Online has a Tech Special Report on Open Source that includes several articles on Linux, software patents and the database market. The series includes some interesting observations on the prevalance of Linux and the LAMP stack to web applications, the emergence of open source in embedded systems such as Tivo, LinkSys routers, cars, phones and even Zimbra's open source mail system.  Linux may not be as prevalent on the desktop, but it continues to make inroads in a broad range of systems and devices.

Sarah Lacey's coverage of what she calls the latest round of the "Database Wars"  is insightful and she nails the key reason why CIOs are looking at open source …