Re: Oracle's Rapidly Sliding License Revenues

Justin Clift <justin@postgresql.org> writes:
> It's seems to be a very much MySQL propaganda style article, with the
> author pushing his preferred database without checking reality for
> facts.
>
> A *lot* of companies choose PostgreSQL, and a significant number of them
> are doing so because the BSD license makes it easy for them to
> start.

Well, the author's criticism of the BSD license is purely from a
"business perspective" (he thinks companies selling BSD-licensed
software won't be able to survive). He then concludes that since the
PostgreSQL-related companies won't be able to make as much money as,
say, MySQL-related ones, they won't have as much money to put back
into the product, thereby making it inferior to MySQL in the long
run.

Of course, I disagree with him (both that BSD-based businesses don't
work, and that you need commercial involvement to develop complex
software), but I don't think it's a completely absurd position, nor is
it propaganda.

Cheers,

Neil

--
Neil Conway <neilc@samurai.com> || PGP Key ID: DB3C29FC