Culture Clash
October 9th, 2008
In January, when Sun announced their intent to acquire MySQL, I predicted that there would be a significant clash of cultures which would result in the loss of some of the folks responsible for the MySQL phenomenon. MySQL is much more than a “SQL interface to a file system” as Suzanne McVeigh famously described it - it’s a cultural phenomenon for this decade. Losing the personalities that created “MySQL” could have the knock-on effect of losing the support of the community that has grown up around MySQL.Yesterday I heard that David Axmark, a co-founder of MySQL, has resigned from Sun to pursue other opportunities, with MySQL, outside of Sun. Following so close on the heels of Monty’s departure, and before the one year anniversary of the Sun acquisition, one can only assume that life inside Sun was unbearable for these folks.
In the typical acquisition scenario the key players are incentivized, through significant bonus programs, to stick around for a year and to ensure as smooth a transition as possible. Their primary role during the transition period is to smooth the ruffled feathers of employees, partners, customers and users, help them adapt to the culture of the new organization and convince them that the acquisition was the best thing that could have happened for the product or company.
Sun is a large corporation with all the rules and procedures that are required to effectively run and manage an organization of that size. MySQL was something quite different, and something quite unique. I suspect that the culture clash between Sun and MySQL was of gargantuan proportions, and second only to the clash of cultures between Ingres and CA. I know first hand, from my time at CA, of the frustration of watching opportunities being squandered and process and egos getting in the way of innovation. Small companies, like Ingres is today, and like MySQL was a year ago, are the perfect vehicles for rapid innovation.
So what’s next for MySQL? I don’t believe for one second that Sun will allow its MySQL investment to wither on the vine, but I do believe that the open source model will allow for different incarnations of the product to blossom and compete with Sun’s MySQL. We will also see an emergence of companies established specifically to compete with Sun in providing support and services around MySQL.
I have nothing but goodwill for the MySQL folks - they, together with Postgres, provided the proof points we needed when deciding to put Ingres into open source. I hope to see fewer cloudy days for the MySQL guys at Sun in the future.
Related Links:
http://blogs.mysql.com/kaj/2008/10/07/thank-you-david-axmark/
October 9th, 2008 at 2:18 pm
“Should I stay or should I go now…”
October 12th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
I agree most certainly with Ms. McGratten’s basic view that we cannot count out MySQL, or the “new” SUN/MySQL hybrid that is forming.
One year is nothing in the time it takes to really learn a company (which is to say: the people and the technological environment) and then to *begin* to become truly productive. It’s a good rule of thumb for a new hire, and it seems to me that it should at least be as true (in terms of time) for a “new-company-hire.”
The only external variable that might be on our side (and this is pure “Kremlin Watching”) is that the current economic “ouch” will probably affect new, or “perceived-as-new” projects / plans *like* further integration of MySQL into SUN …into whatever they have planned — or *had* planned. At the very least, it would seem to buy us some time.