You can get some thoughts, comments and positions about this in
www.firebirdnews.org

Check it out, and fell free to post your comments there.

Carlos
http://www.firebirdnews.org
FireBase - http://www.FireBase.com.br

MF> Ann,

MF> With your post regarding Netfrastructure being purchased by MySQL,
MF> this brings up a topic that I (am sure others) have thought about
MF> since the recent news of Oracle purchasing Innobase Sleepycat.

MF> I am less concerned about MySQL with the purchase of Netfrastructure.
MF> Hopefully any damage that Oracle could or would do to MySQL would not
MF> affect them in the long term. While my database of choice is Firebird,
MF> I support the open source concept and MySQL has been a much publicized
MF> success in that regard.

MF> Could the situation that happened to MySQL happen to Firebird? Could a
MF> company like Oracle start buying up aspects of Firebird? An overview
MF> of the situation with Firebird would be very helpful.

MF> Thanks,

MF> Michael Fisher
MF> desnotes@...




MF> On 2/19/06, Ann W. Harrison <aharrison@...> wrote:

>> Jim Starkey sent the letter below to the Firebird admins and asked
>> me to forward it here. This is a great opportunity for Jim and
>> for the technology he's worked on for the past seven years. As
>> for my plans, MySQL have been very supportive of my intention to
>> continue to work on and for Firebird while working for them part
>> time as a senior architect.
>>
>> What changes does this acquisition bring to Firebird? Almost none.
>> Jim's work on Vulcan is done. He's not the right person to lead its
>> integration with Firebird 2. I'll continue my work on the Vulcan Mac
>> port and other areas of interest and help documenting and integrating
>> Vulcan, and of course, continue to explain Firebird to novices and
>> database experts alike. From my new position, I hope to encourage
>> more cooperation between Firebird and MySQL in areas where our interests
>> coincide – possibly test suites, certainly new syntax – ways to
>> demonstrate to the commercial world that cooperating open source
>> projects are a viable alternative to monolithic commercial solutions.
>>
>> Sincerely,
>>
>>
>> Ann
>>
>> Here's Jim's letter:
>>
>> My company, Netfrastructure, Inc., has been acquired by MySQL, AB. As
>> part of the agreement, I will be working full time for MySQL. I expect
>> to lurk on the architecture list from time to time and may contribute
>> the occasional wolf-o-gram, but I will not be taking an active part in
>> Firebird development. Although Ann will work for MySQL, part time,
>> translating from wolf to English, she will continue to be active in the
>> Firebird project.
>>
>> My decision to join MySQL has almost nothing to do with Firebird and
>> everything to do with Netfrastructure. The Netfrastructure platform
>> represents what I feel about contemporary computing hardware and future
>> application requirements, and has been the center of my technical heart
>> and soul for six year. Some aspects of Netfrastructure technology have
>> already been contributed to the Vulcan project, but Firebird and
>> Netfrastructure are architecturally incompatible. An attempt to
>> integrate the technologies would be unlikely to meet the goals of either
>> project.
>>
>> MySQL and Firebird have never seen each other as competitors and I doubt
>> this will change in the future. The projects have different open source
>> philosophies, different technologies, different customer bases, and
>> different sweet spots. The ideas behind the two projects are, happily,
>> public and available to all. If MySQL and Firebird compete, it is only
>> competition in offering the best possible support to their respective
>> customers.
>>
>> I am pleased to have had the opportunity to finish the Vulcan project.
>> The combination of Vulcan SMP and architecture combined the rich feature
>> set of Firebird 2 will make a solid release and a superb platform for
>> future development.
>>
>> I wish the Firebird project all the best in years to come. And if you
>> need an opinion, please feel free to call.
>>
>>
>>
>> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>>
>> Visit http://firebird.sourceforge.net and click the Resources item
>> on the main (top) menu. Try Knowledgebase and FAQ links !
>>
>> Also search the knowledgebases at http://www.ibphoenix.com
>>
>> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>>
>> Yahoo! Groups Links
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>

MF> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

MF> Visit http://firebird.sourceforge.net and click the Resources item
MF> on the main (top) menu. Try Knowledgebase and FAQ links !

MF> Also search the knowledgebases at http://www.ibphoenix.com

MF> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
MF>
MF> Yahoo! Groups Links



MF>