Many are speculating that this is simply an effort to further and more effectively monetize Java, a storied program language that has move more toward openness and survived several supposed death sentences as newer languages arrived. Still, with all of the open source parts — GlassFish application server, MySQL database, OpenOffice.org suite — is Java the most significant to Oracle? It may be, but regardless of what Oracle is doing, its legal moves here may certainly have an impact on the many other open source projects from Sun that are now under Oracle’s umbrella.

Oracle may also simply be initiating an IP licensing effort around Java, but as Microsoft has found, this can be a delicate endeavor to say the least. Another possibility is that Oracle, not typically mentioned or meaningful when we discuss the hot market of smartphones, wants to make sure the world knows its Java code is in many of that Android technology. Still, there are more constructive ways to go about that, I would think.

We have questioned Oracle’s full appreciation for open source software before, but its latest action simply brings more questions to mind.

The smartphone market is seeing incredible opportunity, competition and innovation right now? In addition, with waves of iPhone and more recently Android popularity, the smartphone market might even be poised for a slow in growth (even though it is by many accounts the fastest growing technology market). Still, if there is some slowing that was part of the natural market cycle, will Oracle take some or even all of the blame?

Given that Google is adept at software development and using open source, we also have to wonder about the impact of any and all major workarounds. Plans may already be well underway to circumvent the use of Java in Android and any range of other devices or markets where it has managed to stay relevant despite its age. This could finally make Java less relevant, or at the least have a negative effect on Java development going forward.

One thing seems clear, Oracle’s move makes all that software patent discussion and debate more relevant and more real. We have sensed a coming storm over software patents, but we did not anticipate a first shot from Oracle, frankly. One of the biggest questions now is what kind of reaction will this trigger from the likes of the Open Invention Network, Linux Foundation (of which Oracle is a Platinum member and Google is a Gold member) or others with resources and interest in legally defending Linux and open source software?

1. Law of Success 2.0 -- a blog of interviews with famous and/or interesting people, from Brad Feld to Uri Geller.
2. Pioneer One -- crowdsourced funding for TV show, perhaps a hint of the future. Pilot shot for $6,000 which was raised through KickStarter. Distributed via BitTorrent.
3. DrasticTools -- PHP/MySQL visualisation tools, including TreeMap, tag cloud, hierarchical bar chart, and animated list. (via TomC on Delicious)
4. GoogleCL -- command-line interface to Google services. At the moment the services are Picasa, Blogger, YouTube, Contacts, Docs, and Calendar.

$  google blogger --blog="The Data Charmer" --title=partitioning list "title,url"

$  google blogger --blog="The Data Charmer" --title=".*partitioning" list "title"
Holiday gift - A deep look at MySQL 5.5 partitioning enhancements
The partition helper - Improving usability with MySQL 5.1 partitioning
A quick usability hack with partitioning
MySQL 5.1  Improving ARCHIVE performance with partitioning

$  google blogger --blog="The Data Charmer" --title="(?i).*partitioning.*" list "title"
Holiday gift - A deep look at MySQL 5.5 partitioning enhancements
Partitioning with non integer values using triggers
Tutorial on Partitioning at the MySQL Users Conference 2009
The partition helper - Improving usability with MySQL 5.1 partitioning
A quick usability hack with partitioning
MySQL 5.1  Improving ARCHIVE performance with partitioning

$google picasa post -n "Blogger Pictures" -t googlecl ~/Desktop/google_cl.png 

$ google picasa list -n "Blogger Pictures" --query googlecl title,url_direct 
google_cl.png,http://lh6.ggpht.com/_gVfZHGgf5LA/TBzjaKiJJvI/AAAAAAAAA74/dthDDhybsmc/google_cl.jpg

google blogger --blog="The Data Charmer" --draft --title "Welcome googleCL" --tags="google,mysql,partitioning,command line,blogging" post ~/blog/welcome_googlecl.html

Ooops.

Um, yeah.  Sorry about that.  Here’s a link to ‘The SmugMug Tale’ slides, and you can watch the video below:

Sorry for the extreme lag.  I suck.

The important highlights go something like this:

• Use transactional replication.  Without it, you’re dead in the water. You have no idea where a crashed slave was.
• Use a filesystem that lets you do snapshots.  Easily the best way to do backups, spin up new slaves, etc. I love ZFS.  You’ll need transactional replication to really make this painless.
• Use SSDs if you can. We can’t afford to be fully deployed on SSDs (terabytes are expensive), but putting them in the write path to lower latency is awesome.  The read path might help, too, depending on how much caching you’re already doing.  Love hybrid storage pools.
• Use Fishworks (aka Open Storage) if you can.  The analytics are unbeatable, plus you get SSDs, snapshots, ZFS, and tons of other goodies.
• Use transactional replication. This is so important I’m repeating it.  Patch it into MySQL (Google, Facebook, and Percona have patches) or use XtraDB if you use replication.  We use the Percona patch.

Holler in the comments if something in the presentation isn’t clear, I’ll answer.  Apologies again.

Shameless plug - we’re hiring. And it’s a blast.

*Jacobsen v. Katzer and open source impact
*Intel, Nokia team up for MeeGo open source OS
*Open source continues in embedded space
*MongoDB and the advent of the NoSQL databases
*Copyrights, complexities, control and conflict

iTunes or direct download (21:48, 6.07 MB)

*Matt Asay moves from Alfresco to Canonical
*GPL fade fuels heated discussion
*Apple’s iPad and its enterprise and open source impact
*Open source in data warehousing and storage
*Our perspective on Oracle’s plans for Sun open source

iTunes or direct download (32:50, 9.2 MB)

They are probably less aware of the open source coverage that The 451 Group provides on a day-to-day and week-to-week basis, however, and I thought it would be worthwhile to provide some examples of The 451 Group’s ongoing open source coverage by highlighting a few recent reports.

The company’s core services are 451 Market Insight Service, which delivers daily insight into emerging enterprise IT markets, and 451 TechDealmaker, a forward-looking weekly analysis service focused on M&A activity within the enterprise IT business.

Here’s some examples of how our coverage fits in to those two services. Needless to say, these reports are only available to clients, although you can apply for trial access. Vendors - open source or otherwise - do not have to be clients in order to be covered by our analysts.

451 Market Insight Service
The 451’s CAOS analysts - Jay and I - are responsible for much of the coverage of open source specialist vendors. Recent examples include:

• Novell lessens Linux push for Intelligent Workload Management strategy

• OpenLogic offers code scanning and compliance, community Linux support

• DotNetNuke rides the explosion of open source on .NET for app development, WCM

Meanwhile The 451 Group’s team of analysts also cover open source related vendors in their respective coverage areas, often in conjunction with CAOS analysts. For example:

• Google’s online channel for smartphones changes little in terms of market dynamics

• JasperSoft eyes the enterprise with latest commercial open source BI suite

• xTuple’s open source ERP attracts more manufacturers, strikes chord with distributors

• Gluster targets virtualization, unstructured data with new clustered storage platform

• eZ Systems gears up for growth with new funding and new CEO

Additionally, we also provide reports assessing the strategies of proprietary/mixed source vendors towards open source. Examples include:

• JetBrains has an open-source IDEA that could expand its profile

• Day Software aims to become the patron saint of open source Web content management

• Microsoft’s new position reflects changing attitude toward open source

• Putting Oracle’s open source moves in perspective

• SAP is learning to give and take with open source

In addition to our vendor-centric MIS output, open source also regularly makes an appearance in our reports assessing wider industry trends. For example:

• Open source users voice concerns over Oracle’s acquisition of MySQL

• ‘Vendor wars’ push challenges, opportunity to HPC and its enterprise outlook

• Unpaid community Linux serving as foundation for provider and private clouds

• Open source and cloud computing – a match made in heaven?
  

451 TechDealmaker
451 Group analysts follow open source-related M&A in their coverage areas, again often working with the CAOS analsyst. Examples include:

• VMware grows cloud stack, sends message with Zimbra buy

• Terracotta acquires Quartz, adding job scheduling to Java-caching lineup

• Pentaho snags LucidEra assets in bid to give analytics mainstream appeal

While we also provide reports assessing the prospects of potential acquirers and targets alike. For example:

• EC concerns over Oracle-Sun deal center on MySQL

• Will Red Hat have to buy to meet aggressive growth targets?

• Further acquisitions could boost Novell’s Linux business, indirectly

And again, open source makes an appearance in our reports assessing wider industry trends. For example:

• Could an open source project survive a hostile acquisition?

• How will recent moves by Intel and Google shake up the embedded OS space?

• Opportunities for open source M&A in 2009

• Will code scanning and analysis get large vendors shopping?

For those with an interest in M&A it is also worth mentioning is 451 M&A KnowledgeBase – the company’s merger and acquisition database, which contains details of all M&A deals tracked by The 451 Group, and offers the ability to filter search results to contain deals that are themed “open source”.