Fork it!
With $1bn in his pocket, why doesn't he just start a new company with a fork of MySQL? It's Open Source, so there's nothing stopping him ....
The co-founder of MySQL is hoping to convince Chinese and Russian regulators to halt Oracle’s planned buyout of Sun Microsystems, after grumbling that European watchdogs looked set to clear the takeover. The EC has set a deadline of 27 January to declare its position on the $7bn acquisition, which Michael ‘Monty’ Widenius has …
Reminds me of that classic line from the above film: "Monty, you terrible c*nt!"
Sums it up perfectly: he sold his beloved database, so now he's no right to interfere...
...mine's the one with the lighter fluid in the pocket.
Monty! You made yer money now crawl back in your cave and leave the business to the men in suits.
Monty can you kindly propose $1 bn to Oracle so you can get your stuff back ... or kindly shut up.
Monty left Sun because he felt they were leaving glaring bugs in the database and rushing to get it released. Now MySQL is under threat from the Evil Ellison.
So do the sensible thing Monty, create a fork and fix stuff. The world gets to keep it's free "database" and you're a billion better off.
I can't see what the problem is.
"They are powerful, self-confident and open-source-friendly countries" ... with openly democratic structures and ....
With $1bn in his pocket, why doesn't he just start a new company with a fork of MySQL? It's Open Source, so there's nothing stopping him ....
You fucked up - you trusted us.
Thats commerce for you Monty.
... then look to Canonical for inspiration.
There's something positive a man with big ideas and the proceeds of the sale of his old company can do with Free Software.
Monty really needs to get a life.
What is sold is not yours anymore to decide.
Imagine buying a second hand house and the previous owner keeps asking whether he can live with you.
It's just crazy.
Even if he only gets 1% of the $1bn that's $10mil better of.
Plus he forks it already (MariaDB), I don't know why he keeps pulling strings.
Monty was not the sole owner of MySQL, as far as I remember he got +100m euro (before tax).
,Also it is unfair to say he sold MySQL as the number of shares he had was not enough for such a decision.
And Please again.
1)The time to speak up was before he took the money.
2)MySQL was never that great to begin with. Even as far as free dbs go there are much better choices.
As an indirect employee of Sun - I see on a daily basis how this is affecting the employees of Sun, their customers & the company. There are a lot of very nervous people there. Monty needs to realise that if this deal does not go through then Sun could potentially fold and then where would "his" crusade be ?? Or is he hoping for that to happen so he can pick MySQL out of the ashes,,,,,, What right has he got to interfere !!!!