Re: Oracle and OpenSource

hforbric_at_yahoo.net says...

> > This is completely untrue. To the best of my knowledge, Oracle has
> > *_no_* intention of releasing the source to its database.
 

> Not the database. I can't blame them either as it is their bread and
> butter ... "never give away the cash cow"

Oh, I don't blame Oracle Corp. for not giving away its multi billion dollar revenues - that would be the height of stupidity.

What I am saying is that it is ridiculous to call Oracle a "proponent" of Open Source software - they are a user of Linux.  

> But AFAIK, Oracle does provide fixes back to the Open Source community,
> esp. Apache and Linux kernel enhancements (eg: recent file system
> enhancements around asyncIO). And it has made available some Open
> Source code, esp. OCFS.

And, by any small (teeny, tiny) chance, would these "fixes" also help/enable Oracle products to work/work better on Linux.

I'm not knocking what they're doing, just don't call Oracle Corp. an Open Source proponent.

> > Oracle Corp. has no interest in Open Source per se, as an ideal or as a
> > business strategy for itself, but is using it as a tool to undermine
> > competitors.
 

> Nothing wrong with that.

See above.  

> Isn't a fundemental tenant of good business to use [leverage <g>] any
> and all tools and methods to provide a competitive edge?

Indeed, and I'm not knocking it (BTW, it's "tenet" - a tenant is something else entirely 8-)).

All I'm saying is that an Open Source user is *_not_* necessarily an Open Source proponent.

A proponent is an "advocate" - if Oracle were truly that, they would have at least made Oracle available for the Free BSD's - no? Well, I suppose that one could argue that they are "advocates" in a limited sense - i.e. "Stay off Micro$oft platforms" - however, this IMHO, doesn't make them advocates in the true sense of the term.

Paul...  

> /Hans
 

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