Doug Stewart

MySQL is one of the positive examples of open source. However, I find that far too many people go for open source due to short term advantages (e.g., it is free), without adequate consideration of the full cost/benefit considerations and the long term implications. To begin with, to a certain extent you get what you pay for. If the package is free, then the support and service is going to be limited as there is no funding for it. Not many people would buy a commercial package with no guaranteed support, so likewise they should carefully consider this for open source. Secondly, although packages such as MySQL have a large development and user community, many other open source packages have a limited development community. Often the development and support community is largely driven and organised by a single individual or small group of individuals. When these peo... (more)