A very interesting article appeared on InternetNews today.
It involves the license issues between MySQL and PHP.
As many of you know MySQL is no longer bundled with PHP, something MySQL seems to deeply regret and are now desperately trying to fix. Understandable since PHP is perhaps one of the major reasons MySQL is so popular, the consequences of their actions will most likely be that users now have a more open choice on which database to build into PHP. Many will perhaps give PostgreSQL a second thought when installing PHP, since MySQL is no longer the easy choice.

It seems, like many other projects, MySQL chose an Open Source license without understanding what it would do for their product. Sadly it is also a very easy choice for a project to make: “We’re open source, we’ll just use the GPL like everyone else”, GPL is a virus, it infects everything it touches.

I’d personally like to see MySQL bundled again, but I’m not really that bothered about it. I am however happy to see PHP is standing fast against those GPL fanatics :)

By the way, if you want a non-GPL weblog: Serendipity