MySQL defends paid tarball decision

Found on Reg Developer on Tuesday, 14 August 2007
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MySQL has defended a decision to end free community access to the latest source code for its popular database in an attempt to snag paying customers.

The executives spoke up after a decision that's left some in its usually supportive and loyal ecosystem voicing concerns MySQL is taking another step away from the community that helped it build market share (50 per cent among developers) and to become synonymous with Web 2.0 and the LAMP stack.

Some have even voiced concern the Community Server will be dropped by MySQL, as the company focuses on commercial activities.

The main issue stems from MySQL's decision to remove source code tarballs - bundles - from its public ftp.mysql.com site and place them on the enterprise.mysql.com site with tarballs made available only to paying subscribers.

MySQL is walking down a small path. The Open Source community is the reason why MySQL has its current position, and bad decisions may quickly backfire. After all, MySQL is not the only player around. People might as well decide to drop it and switch to PostgreSQL (which is also Open Source and offers even more SQL compliance).