Networking leader Cisco has cut costs by embedding Linux and the MySQL database into its products.
That makes MySQL an appealing option for small- and medium-sized businesses, says Forrester analyst Noel Yuhanna.
Oracle is countering MySQL, Ingres and the like with its own low-cost programs and even a few free apps.
Knowledge of SQL Server database and programming (Shellscript, PHP, Mysql, Javascript and HTML) environments.
But the 1% of MySQL users who do pay for support include big names like Google, Yahoo!
At our Users Conference we surprised them (Oracle) by announcing them (as) MySQL Partner of The Year.
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Marten noted that a year after Oracle acquired InnoDB, MySQL made an unexpected announcement at their annual Users Conference.
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It has funded several of the continent's most successful start-ups, notably Skype, MySQL and Last.fm, an online music service.
"All other databases on the market today were designed for an offline, back-office use, " says MySQL Chief Executive Marten Mickos.
DaimlerChrysler, Siemens and UPS use MySQL, spending (so says MySQL) one-tenth of what they would have spent on the Oracle alternative.
Other recently acquired companies include Buddy Media, AsterData, Data Domain, MySQL, and Danger, and notable portfolio companies include Twitter, Dropbox and LivingSocial.
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At the low-price end, open-source upstarts MySQL and Enterprisedb have hawked cheaper, nimbler databases for a few years, possibly squeezing Ingres out.
For Oracle the threat comes from such outfits as MySQL and Ingres.
Most firms that develop products on top of MySQL prefer to buy a commercial licence that does not come with this obligation.
Second, since MySQL is open-source, anyone can use the program's underlying recipe.
Although MySQL and its underlying recipe are available free, any added code built around the open-source product must also be made open source.
If Oracle's acquisition of Sun Microsystems goes through, it will have an even bigger open-source portfolio including MySQL, a popular program for databases.
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Both Memcached, which accelerates existing relational databases like MySQL, and Redis, which is a complete, stand-alone database and acceleration solution, are open source technologies.
The most popular open source database (with more than four million users) is made by a company called MySQL, which has been venture-backed since 2001.
"Unlike IBM, Oracle and Microsoft, MySQL has never had 50, 000 features, but it does have maybe 10, 000 relevant features that are relevant to enterprises, " he says.
The commission is on firmer ground when it argues that the way MySQL is licensed would allow Oracle some control over commercial use of the program.
But the 1% of MySQL users who do pay for support include big names like Google (nasdaq: GOOG - news - people ), Yahoo!
Compared with those three goliaths, which provide database software to 86% of the enterprise software market, according to Forrester Research, MySQL offers a simpler and cheaper solution.
Linux, the MySQL database and other low-cost open-source software, first created by amateurs, have evolved at Internet speed and are now polished enough to rival products from Microsoft and Oracle.
Over time, cost pressure has led the IT organizations to consider open source for mission critical components such as database management systems (mySQL) or the operating system itself (Linux).
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Still, Oracle would probably accept a deal to spin off MySQL should the commission demand this as a remedy before January 19th, by which time a decision must be made.
DaimlerChrysler (nyse: DCX - news - people ), Siemens and UPS use MySQL, spending (so says MySQL) one-tenth of what they would have spent on the Oracle alternative.
As Sun's size lends legitimacy and the guarantee of long-term service to MySQL, the acquisition will likely convince more and larger enterprises to sign on to MySQL's cut-rate database systems, Yuhanna says.
For one thing, it says, MySQL and Oracle's databases do not compete: the former is a relatively simple program used by many websites, while the latter is complex software that underpins corporate applications.
The purchase of MySQL, which has built one of the best brand names among privately held open source companies, is yet more evidence of how tough it is for open source companies to go to the public markets.
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