• Fact: MySQL 5.6 was released as GA in February 2013
• Fact: MySQL 5.6 has been available with its complete set of features since September 2012
• Fact: On September 21st, Oracle has released MySQL 5.7.2, which is the de facto major release after MySQL 5.6 (5.7.1 was just a token “we’re-still-in-business” release).
• Fact: As of today, there is no GA-ready fork of MySQL 5.6.

Percona Server is still in RC state, while MariaDB, with its runaway version 10, is still in alpha state. Of these releases, Percona Server seems the one in the better shape. Their problem was to adapt Percona Server to the enhanced codebase for 5.6, and the merging problems were bigger than the ones encountered in 5.1 and 5.5. Percona Server is a business oriented fork. It includes specific features for …

Previously, I’ve called out years for non-desktop Linux in 2008, Linux in both the low and high-ends of the market in 2009, ‘hidden’ Linux in 2010 and last year, cloud computing in 2011. For 2012, I see continued growth, prevalence, innovation and impact from Linux, thus leading to a 2012 that is dominated by Linux.

I expect to see nothing but continued strength for Linux and …

I wrote last year about the way Google’s Android mobile operating system was serving as a more open alternative to Apple’s iOS, but not so open that it didn’t leave opportunity for an even more open alternative.

Given that we continue to see software patent-based attacks on Android, as well as swirling FUD around coverage of the attacks and never ending suits and settlements and courtroom developments, it is clear it will be a long time before any of this legal business is ever close to settled, unless ended by settlements first, which is likely.

However, I’m more interested in the technology in the meantime. I also think it’s interesting to see, if not a ‘more open’ …

Time is flying by so fast, it sure doesn’t seem like it was last year I was blogging about how Android is for real. Well, let me reiterate … Android is for real. The reason I say that and stress that is despite its success, we see a variety of legal threats, accusations and actual lawsuits to come flying at Android as fast as it is growing in the market.

Still, we seem to be able to fairly easily find agreement among vendors, developers and users that Android development is not slowing down, that legal maneuvering will not pave a path to success or that any ruling or action will take Android-based phones out of consumers’ hands. This is not to say that Android faces significant challenges: real fragmentation and version overload; a software development pace that may be too fast for handset makers or consumers; innovation from rivals …

I have recently come across two examples of unintentional FUD. For different reasons, my …

Before launching into this, I must give due deference to Mogens Nørgaard’s landmark article, You Probably Don’t Need RAC (YPDNR), available here, but originally published Q3 2003 in IOUG Select Journal.  Mogens showed that you can be a friend of Oracle without always agreeing with everything they do.

At Blue Gecko, many of our remote DBA customers have been asking us about Golden Gate.  In July 2009, Oracle bought Golden Gate Software, just one of several companies that have developed log-based replication mechanisms for Oracle and other databases.  This was one of many major acquisitions by Oracle in 2009, including Sun and Relsys. But unlike most of Oracle’s acquisitions, …

This is the story of a tweet...

Last week Adam went to QCon San Francisco to talk about "The Road Ahead for Java". Adam covered the Java SE Strategy, presented by Oracle at JavaOne via a PR, keynotes and sessions like S319476 by Paul and Henrik. The relevant section from the PR is:

The Oracle JDK and Java Runtime Environment (JRE) will continue to be available as free downloads, with no changes to the existing licensing models.

Premium offerings such as JRockit Mission Control, JRockit Real Time, Java for …

The bottom line: As both a community member of MySQL, and a service provider, I am not worried about Oracle buying Sun and acquiring MySQL in the process. There is no validity to the argument that Oracle will slow down or stop MySQL development — it is not possible, with various forks already in heavy development, and it is not probable, because Oracle has owned the InnoDB codebase for 4 years and has not slowed that development down.

My bias

I use MySQL, and want to see it continue to be developed. I work for The Pythian Group, providing DBA services to clients running MySQL. Together with my MySQL colleagues at The Pythian Group, the services provided run the gamut from rotating logs, monitoring, performance tuning, designing and implementing and optimizing database architectures and schemas and queries and debugging problems throughout the full stack. The only service we do …

Following the release of our report, ‘The Myth of Open Source License Proliferation’ and during research for it, we heard and sensed a feeling that open source software licenses had evolved to become a generally well-accepted piece of the the enterprise IT and IP market. However, we also heard from numerous vendors, developers and other individuals that the next battlefront is obviously software patents, which are in need of reform, according to many supporters of free and open source software.

This week, we saw some of the software patent skirmishes that are driving and validating this thinking. There was first news that the Open Invention Network, the consortium dedicated to legal and IP defense of Linux, had bought some software patents that related to …

In the past few days it has come to my attention that some people are having problems with Percona's blog at http://www.mysqlperformanceblog.com. I was told that trackbacks seem to be broken and some comments were not showing up.

Anyone else having any problems with what looks like censorship? [edit: trackbacks were a technical error, Dave's comment was trapped in a spam trap. Still looking for people to comment whether or not they're seeing a similar issue, as it's important for people to check to see if their comments are showing up.]

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