“Open Source will not replace closed source."

—Mårten Mickos, CEO MySQL

MySQL AB employs the dual-licensing scheme model where software producers can take out commercial licenses and where users of the free version of the software can buy support and services. Dual licensing for Mickos is a mark of achievement for what MySQL planned to be all along, an Open Source-based business Survivor, showing a nimble business model that profits from the methodology of Open Source.

MySQL AB sells non-GPL commercial licenses for embedded and other applications. A non-GPL commercial license allows a user to resell a product that contains MySQL code without GPLing the entire application, and it does not violate GPL rules or intentions.

“Open Source will run in all software packages that are
commoditized."
—Mårten Mickos, CEO MySQL

MySQL AB is targeting packaged software suppliers, mobile applications, telecom equipment, testing equipment, consumer electronics, automotive applications, and others for non-GPL licensing. MySQL AB has earned its living through commercial licenses, support agreements partnership agreements, training courses, and consulting. But MySQL is not the only database system around that’s based on Open Source; it’s just had little duplication in its strongest areas, traditionally retrieval speed and ease of use.

 PostgreSQL and MySQL have been the most in the limelight of Open Source database solutions and the lines until fairly recently were well drawn as to what each could and couldn’t do very well. They were co-existing more than competing, where advice from integration experts when asked which database technology to choose would generally be “depends on what you want to do.”

 For PostgreSQL, the advantage has been its carrying more SQL functions and sophisticated methods for manipulating data, the database of choice for business users seeking broader functionality and a capability for handling transactional tasks well. MySQL has been seen as a database solution especially fit for handling non-transactional metadata.

For MySQL, the sweet spots have been speed and ease of use. Yahoo uses it, for example, to handle chores like data retrieving and sorting, and the U.S. Census Bureau has a number of projects running MySQL. Those are only two of many large organizations, including corporate giants, using MySQL. But don’t get confused with how it is being used—not as a substitute for enterprise-scale database systems but popular on the back end for corporate web sites. Now MySQL is kicking open more doors, however, seeking to play catchup to PostgreSQL.

The MySQL development team is continuing to work on adding new features. Mickos too is keen to note that MySQL is no longer “that other kind” to PostgreSQL. New transaction support and support for full-text indexing makes MySQL attractive to companies looking for database solutions that handle transactional applications as well as the traditional web market.

Open magazine talked to Mickos while he was on the road in San Francisco last month, waving the MySQL AB flag at the Embedded Systems conference there. “We have been adding richer features to our product,” says Mickos. “If somebody thought that Postgres was the one with ‘rich features,’ then they are wrong. We have 3 million installations worldwide.” Well, 3 million installations if you count those who use the MySQL code under the GPL.

The market that Mickos is eyeing in particular for growth is embedded. According to a recent MySQL user survey, half of the over 11,000 respondents registered interest in embedded use of MySQL

“We’re going after the embedded market aggressively,” declares Mickos. The company realized a rapid rise in sales of commercial licenses for embedded last year and is not looking back. This March, MySQL AB inked an agreement with Erricson Canada, which has purchased a commercial license for the MySQL database server. The agreement gives all Ericsson departments and affiliates worldwide the right to develop and resell their commercial products embedding the MySQL code.

“Ericsson is not the first deal of this kind.” he says. “We’ve done a number of these. What is significant is that now for the first time they’ve started using Open Source in their products and they are interested in using it in upcoming products as well. Our relationship with them shows that Open Source isn’t something confined to a developer community. It’s a part of business-critical projects. We’re pleased to see leaders like Ericsson using the commercial license option to integrate MySQL into all their projects.”

The Ericsson announcement came on the heels of another March announcement from the Uppsala headquarters, this time about the fact that MySQL was chosen as the embedded database of choice for software from Virage (rich media communication software and video, for the training/learning market); Blue World Communications (software for building web sites); CoreSense (e-commerce software), and SS8 (IP signaling and services).

That range of companies indicates the MySQL edge for embedded, where it is able to be embedded into any number of applications and electronics devices. Embedded MySQL can be used for Internet appliances, for example, public kiosks, hardware/ software combination units, or databases distributed on CD-ROM. Enter the dual-licensing scheme advantage: “Many embedded MySQL users will benefit from the dual licensing scheme of MySQL,” reads the MySQL AB site web page section that addresses embedded computing, where, besides the GPL license, commercial licensing is also available for those not wishing to be bound by the GPL (http://www.mysql.com/products/mysql-4.0/).

As for the enterprise-scale database, there is firm acceptance that mission-critical core database systems need to have names like Oracle. MySQL, rapid, easy, and effective workhorse that it is, is no Oracle, and IT planners in large corporations still defer to feature-rich stalwarts from companies like IBM, Microsoft, and Oracle.

This does not bother Mickos. “We usually live side by side with an Oracle installation in the enterprise. We’re not trying to replace Oracle. We have our strengths and they have theirs.”

Neither does he get worked up about eradicating the scourge of proprietary system software. He predicts it won’t happen. “Open Source will not replace closed source, but will run in all software packages that are commoditized—drivers, databases, web servers—all of these standard things will increasingly be Open Source.”

Meanwhile, Mickos has his own doors to kick in. Before joining MySQL AB, Mickos sharpened his business acumen as CEO of MatchON Sports, and Intellitel Communications, where he transitioned the company from development lab to commercial software vendor. “As for the enterprise market, we have time to wait them out,” he states. “I can see the rise happening a few more years from now.”

With cost-conscious corporate buyers depending on companies like Oracle, IBM, and Microsoft as the main players in the relational database industry, they are, after all, also trying to learn much more about solutions in the Open Source world for database technology. Those “few years” in Mickos’ prognosis might be close to the mark.

Is MySQL AB for now barreling forward unscathed by its legal dispute with Progress, and its subsidiary NuSphere over trademark and GPL issues, which the judge ultimately urged both parties to come to a settlement out of court?

“While lawsuits are a nuisance to anyone, “ says Mickos, ”being a Swedish company, we do not have the predisposition for legal battles. We are engaged in settlement talks.”