Could MySQL be pigeon holed by Oracle love?

[Tony Bain]

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A while ago, about 16 years ago now, I had a desktop computer.* It wasn’t a PC.* It was an Acorn.* It had an ARM processor in it.* Despite the rest of the world starting going crazy for the new Pentium chip, the Acorn with its ARM processor could run rings about it in terms of computing power.* And it was simple and easy to use, I used to write applications in assembly code for it (and it didn't have a fan!).

Not too long after that Acorn went under, Arm was already off on its own to find a new market.* Its RISC technology was licensed in many different ways.* Despite some isolate cases where the technology was again used on the desktop or even in supercomputers, largely those licensing it didn’t require another desktop processor.* They needed a mobile processor, which ARM’s technology was great for too.* Over time the ARM processors have become well known for their mobile capabilities and their desktop & supercomputer capabilities became less widely known (or cared about).

So why am I telling you all this?

Well as we all know, Oracle has yet to make any public statements about their intentions for MySQL.* Sitting in the Hannah Montana movie with my kids (don’t ask) tonight I was thinking about possible scenarios that could play out.* One of the interesting ones is what happens if Oracle positions MySQL as an entry level database, or as small scale web backend database, and showers it with love and attention, sales & marketing effort in that space.*

Is it possible that MySQL could start to become known for that limited capability only and recognition elsewhere could start to fade?* Would it matter?* Would this make sense, how would this be advantageous to Oracle?*

Rhetorical questions really as I am just thinking out loud, just thinking out loud...







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