[FC-discuss] Open Source aspects Oracle/Sun merger

[James Love]

On Tue, 2009-07-07 at 11:38 -0400, James Love wrote:
On Mon, 2009-07-06 at 16:42 -0700, Alex Kozak wrote:
> For the sake of discussion, what are the open source issues related to
> the merger?
> - Alex Kozak

   MySQL (the M in LAMP) provide a very important free open source SQL
database.  Oracle provides a very pricy closed source database.  Prices
for licensing the Oracle database and the Microsoft SQL server have been
driven down by competition.  MySQL is part of that competition.

   What will happen to MySQL if the merger goes through?  Will it have
efficient investment to continue to be as relevant has it has become?
Should Oracle be allowed to acquire MySQL?  Is the fact that MySQL can
be forked enough of protection for the users of MySQL?

  OpenOffice.Org (OO.o) is right now the main thing checking Microsoft's
monopoly power in the office suite market, and providing a challenge to
Microsoft's control over data formats, by implementing ODF.  Sun was
providing the most support to this project.  Will Oracle be tempted to
cut a deal with Microsoft, to cut off support for OO.o?  

  Java is now a pretty important part of the web.  Sun discusses some of
the openness issues here:

http://www.sun.com/software/opensource/java/faq.jsp#h

There are issues, I believe, regarding the patents on Java, that are not
resolved by the licensing of most of the software code.


> On Mon, Jul 6, 2009 at 3:43 PM, James Love <james.love at keionline.org>
> wrote:
>         KEI is meeting with DOJ on Wed to discuss the open source
>         aspects of the
>         Oracle/Sun merger.  We will be focusing on MySQL, Java and
>         OO.o.
>         --
>         James Love, Director, Knowledge Ecology International
>         http://www.keionline.org | mailto:james.love at keionline.org
>         Wk: +1.202.332.2671 | US Mobile +1.202.361.3040 | Geneva
>         Mobile +41.76.413.6584
>         
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> 
> -- 
> Alex Kozak
> akozak at berkeley.edu
> 916.225.2718
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-- 
James Love, Director, Knowledge Ecology International
http://www.keionline.org | mailto:james.love at keionline.org
Wk: +1.202.332.2671 | US Mobile +1.202.361.3040 | Geneva Mobile +41.76.413.6584