Thx for the comments on MySQL as part of Sun. The MySQL business is growing faster now than before (measured in revenues) and we are the fastest growing major DBMS business in the world. So, although someone could claim I am biased, I think it is fair to say that the acquisition made sense from a pure revenue growth perspective.

Additionally, Sun is selling hardware to MySQL users and customers - servers that provide a performance boost over what people use today.

Thirdly there are synergies between MySQL and Sun's various software products - especially Glassfish, NetBeans, ZFS, Identity Manager, etc. A web shop may not need all of those, but large corporations see a benefit in getting many products from the same vendor.

Still there is no denying that Sun has major challenges today. We are hard at work fixing the problems. And that's why I keep following the discussions on /. - there is always some great suggestion from someone that we can make good use of.

Marten Mickos
(formerly CEO at MySQL AB, now head of Sun's Database Group)