Ellison: We won't spin off MySQL
Oracle CEO urges approval of Sun acquisition, says Oracle's database does not compete with MySQL
Undaunted by European Union concerns over Oracle's proposed ownership of the open source MySQL database, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison insisted Monday that he would not spin off MySQL to get EU approval of Oracle's planned acquisition of Sun Microsystems and that Oracle's database does not compete with MySQL.
Ellison, in an interview before a gathering of industry dignitaries in San Jose, Calif., also laid out his vision of Oracle following in the footsteps of one-time IBM President Thomas Watson Jr.'s IBM and serving as a complete systems company.
[ In addition to the EU, some user are nervous about Oracle owning MySQL. | Relive Sun's storied history in InfoWorld's slideshow "The rise and fall of Sun Microsystems." | Learn why attendees at the JavaOne conference were skeptical of Oracle's buyout of Sun. ]
Appearing at a Churchill Club event and interviewed by former Motorola and Sun executive Ed Zander, Ellison emphasized that Oracle competes with databases such as Microsoft SQL Server and IBM DB2 but not MySQL. "We never compete against MySQL. [Oracle and MySQL] are both called databases; they address different markets," Ellison said.
"No, we're not going to spin it off," even if asked to by the EU, Ellison said. The EU is concerned about Oracle simultaneously owning MySQL, the leading open source database, and its own Oracle enterprise commercial database.
U.S. regulators have found the merger to be pro-competition and already approved it, Ellison said. "I think once [EU regulators] do their job, they're going to come to the same conclusion," he said.
Ellison expressed the urgent need to complete the $7.4 billion merger, which was announced in April. "Sun is losing $100 million a month," Ellison said. "We'd like to get this done." He stressed that Oracle wants "to save as many jobs as we can" via the merger.
With the Sun acquisition, which marks Oracle's major foray into computer hardware, Oracle hopes to mimic the dominance of Thomas Watson Jr.'s IBM, Ellison said. Watson Jr. was elected president of IBM in 1952, later became chairman, and stepped down as chairman and CEO in 1971.
Sign up for ITworld's Daily newsletter
Follow ITworld on Twitter @IT_world
On Twitter now
mysql
Powered by Twitter
Esther Schindler
If the comments are ugly, the code is ugly
claird
SVG a graphics format for 21st century
pasmith
Take Chrome OS for a test spin
Sandra Henry-Stocker
Solaris Tip: Have Your Files Changed Since Installation?
jfruh
Android fragments vs. the iPhone monolith
mikelgan
What Gizmodo missed about the Pro WX Wireless USB disk drive
Sidekick: The Good News & the Bad News
Either way you look at it Microsoft Data Center management did not follow standards or best practices in this failure. In which case it makes me wonder more about the outsourcing of corporate data much less personal data.
- mburton325
Join the conversation here
Quick, practical advice for IT pros. Made fresh daily.
Want to cash in on your IT savvy? Send your tip to tips@itworld.com. If we post it, we'll send you a $25 Amazon e-gift card.
