Mr 500 I'd point out that MySQL was never FOR Fortune 500 companies. MySQL was for a guy running a shop making parts for your suppliers. He's got one IT manager that doubles as bookkeeper and zero budget for $10k software licenses. Those people were NEVER going to buy Oracle, and probably not buy Microsoft SQL either. What happened is that in the decade of MySQL, those little shops got big enough to buy, and the 500 kids liked what they were doing on a budget of duct tape and peanuts so MySql got into the doors of companies that demand to pay for support. And MySQL AB became a billion dollar company... Which isn't really that big... But their product was FREE and people bought support anyway.

Well mr 500. Plenty of companies DID choose to grow into paying for MySQL support INSTEAD of paying for expensive Oracle servers. Then Oracle bought MySql.
Personally, I think that the creator/owner of MySQL did right by selling to somebody that had the ability to actually FURTHER the product. And provide support to paying customers. Nobody else could afford to buy the size of company that MySQL had become... But at the same time it was still a "toy" database company. ID point out that Oracle was gradually cutting off MySql air supply. They were buying up other opensource projects.. Like Sleepy Cat that created SQLite and other pieces MySql needed. So Ellison was actively trying to corner the DB market on Linux.

The problem is that company was ORACLE. And many people stayed on puny MySQL EXPRESSLY NOT to give Ellison's ego more money. Monty and pals took a few years off MySQL but its obvious Oracle isn't moving the product forward.

The BIGGEST reason for using ANY spinoff is that Oracle is gradually making the distribution of "original MySQL" more onerous for Red Hat, Ubuntu, Zend etc. Oracle eats its partners more violent than Microsoft ever did. So it's just bad business to base YOUR BUSINESS on MySQL remaining on its "graceful" terms much longer.

IT security at most companies has their noses do brown they will flat out lie to get employees to sign that waiver. Most will just add it to the "company policy" and if your boss TELLS you to use your personal device, you will go it or get fired.. They only wipe your device if you get fired, so its not their problem and you deserved it.

That's exactly the point, and that's how it's being sold. From my companies boss, he wants to give everybody a stipend for "a device" load up Citrix and said lockdown for company days, then let them do whatever they want.

So basically his version of BYOD is letting you use "any"device but the company is still going to tell YOU what to do with it. Extend that to the cheap-ass employers that will just expect you to bring your OWN PAID FOR device in and bastard IT people that wipe YOUR data whenever the boss says.

It's a whole "bag of hurt" for legal reasons as well. Jailbreaking, personal medical or legal data, not to mention music or media (and porn) all being carried around the workplace all day. It's an HR nightmare! I have just enough ODD to put clopping fan service as a screensaver just to piss one of those chea ass bosses off.

It's Citrix kids. My company already runs all their SAP instances, even for internal machines off Citrix VMs. It's trivial to allow an iPad to drive one remotely, and all the information stays on the VM if you lock it down tight enough.

The problem is that mobile networks are nowhere near fast and reliable enough to run Citrix all the time for email and messaging.. So companies are still going to want THEIR DATA on YOUR device and cry about "losing it" just as fast.

BINGO! and that is why I carry TWO devices. Work stuff is done on Work provided equipment, personal stuff (like Slashdot posts) from personal equipment. I do little "lunchtime surfing" from work machines anymore.

That's been the "best practice" the last 5 years or so... Lock the hell out of company owned machines. It was as much for LICENSING purposes as security. All the software houses sued employers for per worker access, so companies locked their stuff down. And it makes a great environment to manage.

Most of this is driven by moving to Citrix where you just use "personal" devices to drive the super locked-down VM instance... You can barely take screen shots on the personal device. I'm not going to tolerate ANY MONITORING OR LOCKDOWN on MY personal device. Not to mention the flagrant attempt to grab UNPAID work hours by pushing everything to YOUR equipment do you can't get away.

Call Japan and PSY! Gundams fly to Lagrange points! JarJar is already there in style!

Seriously, if we want to explore just the solar system, we need to start building tools in space. The Moon was an obvious choice, more because we need a place to PRACTICE stuff and the Moon is nearby. We WASTED thirty years on the Shuttle because we let the project die on the vine back in the 1980's and never progressed. We should have had Orion or whatever was next a DECADE ago. And just kept improving craft to go "a little further" each mission. We should have MULTIPLE IIS bases at the L points... Then we are halfway building a safety net to MARS!

Ok, what about Buck Roger's Deep Space Shuttle?. We were supposed to launch that in 1999... Like 20 years after the ones we just retired.

If only we had a plan for recurring orbital missions... A "space pickup" that would launch on a regular basis to make pit stops for things like extra helium.

To think how many multi-decade projects like this will "rot on the vine".

My point is that copyright protects COPYING. Things like the character "Mickey Mouse" and his likeness have other protections if they remain in use.

I think being partly in public domain has worked out OK for Cthulhu. Part of the works "accidentally" fell into PD (darn Munchkin cultists) and the remaining works are owned by several different companies. Surely of the masters of Dark, Lawyering Arts can negotiate such terrain the Mouse's lawyers would be just fine.

Yet another reason to vote Cthulhu! Although I prefer overlords with noodly appendages and not tentacles.

Mickey Mouse would still be firmly under TRADEMARK for a long time. That would mean you could copy early Mickey clips on YouTube all day, or use them for mashuos and such... but YOU couldn't MARKET "Mickey Mouse" stuff because he's still running Disney and making merchandise.

What the summary indicates is that "lost" INDIVIDUAL authors will soon LOSE protections... Because COMPANIES don't like a grandkid getting money at the 90 year mark. And "orphan" works will probably revert to publishers that last printed them... So most likely a bunch of PD stuff will get snatched back into "publisher/broadcaster" copyright.

The end result will certainly be worse... Did the summary mention ANYTHING about people that buy and use Copyrighted works? It's going to be discussion on how to "lock it up" better.. Not produce more USEFUL WORKS.

The root of the problem is that Gates set the company to run business units like mini-startups... With super-tough managers over each one. Then Gates stepped back and provided the money and cheerleading. The problem is that the culture developed of the business unit managers all stabbing EACH OTHER in the back to get ahead. So Office, servers, IE, and Windows units are all to some extent fighting for turf because Gates gave it to two different groups, or technology changed. Ballmer is just continuing what he was taught.

Steve Jobs took the opposite approach (but only after he was kicked out and came back). If a product or service wasn't worth SETVE'S time then it was "coasting" or cut. Steve built Apple around its CEO paying attention to every detail of new products... And ATTENTION is limited and expensive.

The idea to chop Microsoft into thirds is Past time. Microsoft should have done it five to ten years ago when they were fighting breaking up. Now, they are fighting to be interesting at all. They need to cut or spinoff technologies.. But they need a CEO that LOVES THEIR PRODUCTS. If anything THAT is what made Steve-notes so special... The CEO of the company knew the product inside out and was excited and loved it! Microsoft needs to shed and pair down until that is true of their products and CEO.

In the high end server market IBM is the last of the old-school giants. They have support that will pull parts out of their test machines and hand drive them to you if those big iron boxes break. Of course on big iron "break" means a board is dead.., the machine itself is usually still running, just slower. If you find a real software bug, you can end up with the programmer (or the guy who SITS next to him) for that code looking at your machine himself. You are THAT higher up on the food chain than you eould ever see from WinTel.

It takes Apple-sized margin to deliver that kind of service. Not many are willing to pay for it. You also compensate with really small IT departments. My IT department had about 3 admins and a few managers, mostly for self-written app support. You have departments wher 30 year-olds are the NEW kids and hard to find. It's totally the opposite of the "throw everybody at everything" world if Googles and Facebooks.... We rarely work weekends.. Or at least not because of the "system".

Usually the government sends a phonebook of paperwork first... With "comply or close" on the cover.

Guy is choosing to close cause he can't possibly meet the demands. This is how "industry insiders" stay ahead.. With rules so complex it takes 40 people to follow them. With computers though it takes 40 people if you have 1000 accounts or 10,000,000.