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So I'm not happy right now ... just woke up to an IM on my screen that Sun is buying MySQL. Look what Sun did to Java. Good or bad move for the developers out there?

Cheers

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JonathanD commented: spreadin' some love! +3

Dani AI

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This thread captures an understandable immediate reaction. 's unease and 's concern about possible commercialization are the right kinds of questions to ask after a major change in stewardship, and 's Java comparison shows why historical precedent matters. The practical question for developers is not just “good or bad” but “what do I do now to manage risk?”

Concrete steps to protect production systems:

  • Take and verify full backups regularly. Test restores on a separate host.
  • Pin and document the MySQL server and client versions your applications support.
  • Audit code for vendor-specific features (proprietary extensions, nonstandard SQL) and note migration effort.
  • Create a staging plan that runs your full test-suite against at least one compatible alternative.

A quick example command for a logical backup (adjust to your environment):

mysqldump -u root -p --all-databases --single-transaction --routines --events > all_databases.sql

Options to consider if you want to hedge against vendor risk:

  • MariaDB is a community-led, drop-in compatible fork suitable for many deployments (MariaDB).
  • Percona Server focuses on performance and observability while retaining MySQL compatibility (Percona Server).
  • If different SQL features or MVCC behavior are needed, evaluate PostgreSQL (PostgreSQL).

For historical context on how stewardship changed after this discussion, see the later Oracle/Sun acquisition timeline ().

Bottom line: the acquisition raised valid concerns, but they are manageable. Backups, pinned versions, tested migrations, and a clear support/governance preference (community-led vs vendor-supported) let teams make pragmatic choices rather than reactive ones.

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Member Avatar for majestic0110

What did Sun do to Java? I (obviously mistakenly) believed that Sun co-developed Java. Am I wrong here?

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As long as MySQL remains a freebie, I don't see an issue. But if they try to turn it into a fee-based DB, it will destroy an excellent DB.

Sun Microsystems developed Java. It was originally intended to be a system for home automation. Most people do not know this factoid. It failed at that.

In the late 1990s, many pundits claimed that Java was going to take over and dominate the Web. For a brief time, JSP sites were popular. It failed at that.

Then, Java applets were going to add wonderful features to web sites. It failed at that.

It did, however, find a niche with enterprise systems and works well for that application.

IMHO, Java has always been a resource pig. It is inherently slow and that is why it has never dominated the Internet.

BTW, for those of you that think that there is a relationship between Java and JavaScript. There is none. Java was developed by Sun. JavaScript was developed by Netscape. JavaScript was originally called LiveScript. It was modeled after Java and renamed to JavaScript because Netscape thought they could ride the wave of popularity with the language (Java) that at the time was predicted to be the dominant web language.

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