(Take a look at
Part One of my Monty-Watch for some background as to what I think about the situation).
So Monty Widenius and Peter Zaitsev did
an interview with Matthew Aslett on the creation of the
Open Database Alliance. It's well worth a read.
For the record, I don't want anybody to conflate my opinions on what Monty's done with anybody else associated with the Open Database Alliance. I actually think that having such an organization ex-Oracle to make sure that there's a unified voice for everybody working (and attempting to make money) from the MySQL ecosystem, outside the current corporate owner of the MySQL brand, is a Good Thing (and something I think other projects with a single major corporate sponsor may lead to in the future). As such, having a place for all the various consultancies and technology providers to work together to ensure their interests are looked after is a pretty useful and innovative thing.
However, let's play "Look At The Balls On
That Guy"!
Actual Quote Time:
I have, however, offered Oracle a partnership with Monty Program Ab, under which Oracle could get access to some of the critical developer resources Monty Program Ab has available. Monty Program Ab could also help Oracle with their open source strategy and serve as a ‘trust creating’ entity between Oracle and the open source developer community. Oracle has however not yet responded to this.
Kirk's Translation:
I have hired all of the people that ever worked for me when I stormed off from Sun in a huff. Now you may have the MySQL brand name and core IP, but I have all the engineers. Furthermore, I've been sowing as much FUD as I possibly can when, quite frankly, you haven't done anything directly to harm the interests of the MySQL community. If you want me to publicly step down from the FUD-slinging, I have a bank account to which you can send some [more] money.
Anyone who doubts the actual motivations of Monty's recent efforts should read the real quotation (as well as my translation). I think it speaks volumes about what he's attempting to achieve here, which is quite simply to spread enough FUD about Oracle's relationship to MySQL that Oracle feels like it has to engage in some type of action to bring Monty back into the fold in some form, which would involve some type of cash money payment. There really is no other conclusion possible for someone who says, in no uncertain terms: I have all the core developers; I've damaged your relationship with the core community; You could pay me and make the problems go away.
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