There are a bunch of articles on the web discussing this topic. Most are saying, and I agree, that the EU commissioners just don’t get Open Source. Here are some of the articles I looked at today about the topic:
According to a Form 8-K filled with the SEC Sun states that the EU’s Issue is with Sun’s ownership of MySQL. They are concerned that this will represent and give strength to Oracle and may lead to a Monopoly. Most companies support more than one Database. Where I work we have MS SQL and DB2.(even our PeoplSoft is running on DB2 for now.) In the Open Source Ranks the issues with Sun buying MySQL have been a topic of discussion for some time. So the purchase of Sun by Oracle just sped up people’s time lines if they were even going to bother to migrate.
Why shouldn’t you care? Well there are several other Major Open Source Databases in wide use. PostgreSQL, SQLite, Berkley DB and Couch DB are all open source projects ready to take over different segments of the MySQL Market. So do you need it? No. Why does the EU think there is a problem? Lack of education or a chance to mess with an American company or two.
I hope they don’t dragg this out to long. Having been in this type of situation in my past I know this is nerve racking enough when you know you have been bought. When there is uncertainty of even that basic fact it has to be amazingly stressful. Good Luck to all of you out there.
linuxinstall.net 