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MySQL creator Monty Widenius’ petition to prevent Oracle from purchasing the popular open source database software now has more than 17,000 confirmed signatures.
According Widenius, if the European Commission approves the Oracle acquisition of Sun, the current owner of MySQL, Oracle will kill the open source project.
Widenius is sending the petition to the European Commission anti-trust regulators who expected to rule on the Oracle purchase of Sun on Jan. 27.
Widenius’ Web site “Save MySQL” tagline reads “Oracle can have Sun but not MySQL.”
Of the suggested solutions for what the Commission should force Oracle to do with MySQL, 93.5 percent of the petition signers said, “MySQL must be divested to a suitable third party that can continue to develop it under the GPL.”
A plurality, 37.1 percent, of the petition signers are self-employed software or Web developers. Private MySQL users make up 26.7 percent of signers, with 24.9 percent working for a company or organization that uses MySQL. Those concerned about the future of MySQL “for some other reason” – 11.3 percent.
