Michael Widenius on MySQL.org: “NuSphere has contributed nothing”

From: Michael Widenius 
Date: Fri, 13 Jul 2001 08:38:34 +0300 (EEST) 
Subject: mysql.org

Hi!

>Enhanced MySQL(tm) is as the words say a value-added version of
>MySQL available from NuSphere and is available as part of two
>products that contain NuSphere MySQL: NuSphere MySQL Advantage and
>NuSphere Pro Advantage (which also includes a really nice PHP IDE if
>you haven't seen it).  Take a look at http://nusphere.com for more.
> 
>As we have publically stated, we expect to release the source code
>for Gemini as part of MySQL V4, given the delay in releasing V4
>we have decided to release gemini source via mysql.org as a way
>to kick off this new non-commercial community site formed for
>support of mysql.  Take a look at http://mysql.org for more.
> 
>Britt...
> 
>--
> 
>D. Britton Johnston       603-578-6707 Nashua
>Chief Technology Officer  781-280-4954 Bedford
>NuSphere Corporation      781-280-4600 Main
>14 Oak Park               781-280-4646 Fax
>Bedford, MA 01730         www.nusphere.com


Those that have been on this email list a long time should know that I
seldom lose my temper.  The above email however went far beyond the
limit I can stand.

By acquiring, without our knowledge or approval, mysql.org and putting
what they call a 'community' website on it, NuSphere has violated both
the MySQL(tm) trademark and the copyright of MySQL AB.  If we aren't
hard on them, MySQL AB could lose a major part of our income, which we
put into developing the MySQL(tm) server.

I want to stress that to date, NuSphere has contributed nothing, no
money or source, to the development of the MySQL(tm) server.  What
they have done instead is doing a fork of the MySQL distribution and
making a non-open source distribution that clearly violates the GPL
license.

What NuSphere seems to be trying to do is to get people to approve of
their fork, get more people to work on it, and cause confusion among
MySQL users as to where the origin of the MySQL(tm) source and
documentation is.  What NuSphere has done indicates that they want to
be regarded as being in the center of MySQL(tm) server development and
use this as a leverage to push their commercial products that are not
open source.  The truth is that NuSphere has nothing to do with the
development of the MySQL(tm) server.

mysql.org doesn't provide anything significant that
http://www.mysql.com wouldn't provide.  Instead they are forcing
people to register to be able to download anything. They are gathering
names for reasons we can only guess.

I have spent the last 6 years working on the MySQL(tm) server on
average 10 hours per day, seven days a week. The other MySQL
developers and I have personally helped tens of thousands of MySQL
users with their problems and now NuSphere is trying to take that away
from us.  All the code in the MySQL(tm) server is either written by
developers employed by MySQL AB (that's including me) or has been
signed over to us by MySQL users as a thanks for what we have provided
to them.

If anyone has any comments about how we at MySQL AB work as an open
source company, please write to our CEO Marten Mickos via
opensource@mysql.com and we will welcome your suggestions. We are
totally dependent on the trust of our users, as everything we do are
open source, and we are trying hard to do everything in our power to
make life easier for our users.

We at MySQL AB have already taken the necessary legal steps to defend
our rights. We would however need help from all MySQL users to
properly defend ourselves.


If you want to help us, please help us with the following:

- If you now have a link in your website or browser to mysql.org
  because you think it is the authorized MySQL AB site, please consider
  pointing that link to www.mysql.com

- Inform everyone you know about the true nature of mysql.org,

- Send your honest comments about this unfortunate situation, and
  report all instances of confusion concerning mysql.org to us at
  opensource@mysql.com

If you don't have time to fight for us, you can support us in this
fight by purchasing a MySQL(tm) server license at
https://order.mysql.com/

Please spread the word and thanks for the support!

Monty
CTO of MySQL AB
Creator and Design Architect of the MySQL(tm) server code

David Axmark
MySQL AB, Co Founder and community building

Mårten Mickos
CEO of MySQL AB

Mr. Matt Wagner
MySQL AB, Herr Direktor

Sasha Pachev
MySQL AB, Full time developer

Tim Smith
MySQL AB, Full time developer

Sergei Golubchik
MySQL AB, Full time developer

Anna Everlid
MySQL AB, Full time Developer

Ms. Ekaterina Shevchenko
MySQL AB, Designer

Miguel Angel Solórzano
MySQL AB, Full time developer

Tom Basil
MySQL AB, Director Development & Support

Jeremy Cole
MySQL AB, Full time developer

Mr. Sinisa Milivojevic
MySQL AB, FullTime Developer

Jani Tolonen
MySQL AB, Full time developer

Mr. Jorge del Conde
MySQL AB, Full time developer

John Dean,
MySQL AB, Full time developer

Olof Tjerngren
MySQL AB, Full time developer

Kaj Arnö
MySQL AB, VP Training

Tõnu Samual
MySQL AB, Full time developer

PS: We still hope this is a misunderstanding and that NuSphere will
    stop this confusion and give us control of mysql.org.