MESSAGE
| DATE | 2002-08-18 |
| FROM | Ruben I Safir
|
| SUBJECT | Subject: [hangout] Databases Everywhere
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http://quote.bloomberg.com/fgcgi.cgi?ptitle=Technology%20News&s1=blk&tp=ad_topright_tech&refer=techtop&T=markets_frontsummary_content99.ht&s2=ad_top2_technology&bt=ad_position1_technology&bt2=blk&tag=bbn/technology&right1=ad_right1_all&middle=ad_frame2_technology&s=APV5pLxTAT3JhY2xl
(is this a URL or what)
Technology News
Bloomberg
08/17 11:18
Oracle, IBM, Microsoft Challenged by Free Database Software
By Ashley Gross
Sunnyvale, California, Aug. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Oracle Corp., which supplies Yahoo! Inc. with database software, may lose some of that business to a little-known competing product -- the free MySQL database.
MySQL and others are starting to eat into the $8.8 billion market for database software dominated by Oracle, International Business Machines Corp. and Microsoft Corp., users said. Yahoo, which uses MySQL to run the Yahoo! Finance Web site, may replace some Oracle databases with MySQL, said Jeremy Zawodny, a computer engineer at the Internet company.
As the free Linux operating system gains acceptance among companies and government agencies, other open-source programs such as MySQL are making inroads as well. As MySQL improves, more companies are going to consider adopting it to store and retrieve information, Zawodny said.
``Linux has really hit the mainstream now and the same thing's going to happen in the database world,'' Zawodny said. ``It's just going to take a few years. That's when (database vendors) are really going to have to wake up.''
This week, about 20,000 people gathered in San Francisco to learn more about open-source software at the LinuxWorld Conference, where Oracle Chief Executive Officer Larry Ellison gave a keynote speech and IBM was a ``platinum sponsor.''
Free Software
Open-source software programs, such as Linux and MySQL, are freely available on the Internet. Users can look at the underlying code, make changes and pass it on to others.
Oracle and IBM have embraced Linux in part because it offers a challenge to Microsoft, the world's largest software maker, whose Windows operating system runs more than 90 percent of the world's personal computers. All three companies pooh-pooh open- source databases.
``They're really very low-end products,'' Oracle Senior Vice President Andy Mendelsohn said at an investor conference this week. ``I'm not too concerned about them being a viable competitor as yet.''
Spokespeople from IBM and Microsoft said open-source databases aren't reliable and don't offer as many features as their own products. Both companies said they're keeping an eye on programs such as MySQL.
Scandinavia
Like Linux, which was developed by a Finn named Linus Torvalds and posted on the Internet in 1991, MySQL is of Scandinavian heritage.
Two Swedes, David Axmark and Allan Larsson, and a Finn named Monty Widenius were working as computer consultants to Swedish companies and wanted a program to track customer buying patterns. They couldn't find one they liked, so they wrote their own and released it in 1996.
They made the code available on the Internet, encouraging users to download it for free. They created a company, called MySQL AB, that would offer technical support for a fee.
With an expected 5 million euros ($4.9 million) in sales this year, MySQL is a speck compared with Oracle, with sales of $9.7 billion in the year ended May 31, or Microsoft, with sales of $28 billion in the year to June 30. IBM had $86 billion in sales last year.
MySQL Chief Executive Marten Mickos said sales this year have tripled from last year and that he ``absolutely'' hopes to take the company public at some point.
He acknowledged that MySQL, which is mostly used to dish up Web pages, can't handle all the functions that programs from Oracle, IBM or Microsoft can. Not all companies need such heavy- duty databases, he said.
``Some navies need aircraft carriers, but you don't need many aircraft carriers in the world,'' Mickos said in an interview. ``The rest of the world can manage with frigates.''
Government Users
The U.S. Census Bureau opted for MySQL two years ago to run its MapStats Web site, which allows people to look up data such as population, income and crime rates for different states and counties. Instead of spending $80,000 on database software and support, the agency used MySQL for free, said Rachael LaPorte Taylor, a computer engineer at the Census Bureau.
``We've spoken with other agencies about our open-source projects,'' she said. ``People first get interested after hearing about the budget savings.''
MapStats hasn't crashed since it was created, she said.
The U.S. Department of Labor, the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development all use open-source database software.
Volunteer Programmers
The agencies are clients of a consulting company called Development InfoStructure. The Arlington, Virginia-based company runs software projects for the agencies using a free database called PostgreSQL, Development InfoStructure President Peter Gallagher said.
PostgreSQL is based on code developed at the University of California, Berkeley. It's updated by 20 volunteer computer programmers with input from 200 users scattered around the world, said Bruce Momjian, who helped write the software.
Affymetrix Inc., a maker of tools for genetic research and drug discovery, uses PostgreSQL for tasks such as analyzing DNA sequences. The database is simpler to use and cuts costs, spokesman Wes Conard said.
``It's saved us a substantial amount of money, which we'd rather put into research,'' Conard said.
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