New Apache License?

[Christofer C. Bell]

On Sun, 22 Feb 2004 15:22:21 -0500 (EST), Richard Welty wrote
> On Sun, 22 Feb 2004 14:05:08 -0600 "Christofer C. Bell" 
> <cbell at jayhawks.net> wrote:
> > This sounds almost like going in the opposite direction from Apache and 
> > XFree86.  Whereas Apache and XFree86 have made their licenses unfriendly 
to 
> > Open Source (by becoming incompatible with the GPL), MySQL has gone and 
made 
> > their software unfriendly to commercial developers that are loathe to buy 
a 
> > commercial MySQL license.
> 
> > Would this be your interpertation as well?
> 
> nope.

> the MySQL license change is odious because it puts businesses between
> a rock and a hard place -- they get four choices. one, don't upgrade 
> MySQL. two, pay for a commercial license. three, place their code 
> under the GPL. four, switch to another database.

In reading what you said here, I think you meant "yep". :-)  They've made the 
license unfriendly to commercial developers who are now forced to purchase a 
license for MySQL (or face some tough decisions). Placing business "between a 
rock and a hard place" is what I was trying to convey.  You listed yet more 
reasons why it's a bad deal for business:

1. Buy the license
2. Don't upgrade
3. GPL their code
4. Use another product

I'm not sure how a development house would react to that.  On the one had, 
porting the code to another database costs nothing other than developer time 
(and thus doesn't go in the annual report), companies can pass on the costs 
of the commercial MySQL license to their customers (I'm not familiar with the 
pricing structure so I don't know how this would affect the dollars a 
customer has to spend).  I'd doubt that many companies will take option 3 and 
GPL their code.  Option 2 can only be viable for so long, eventually more 
features / performance, etc will be necessary to satisfy the demands of the 
end user.

So in the end, development houses will most likely go with buying the license 
or using another product.  I'll bet that MySQL decides to change their 
license scheme again at some point -- I think what they've done here will end 
up backfiring on them.

I'm really not understanding what the motivations are for all these new 
licensing changes. Perhaps that's a discussion for another thread.

--
Chris

"Build a man a fire and he will be warm for the rest of the night.  Set 
a man on fire and he will be warm for the rest of his life."  -- Unknown