About Me

PBX My name is Paul Bissex, and e-scribe.com is my consulting business. I build web applications using as much open source software as possible. From September to June I teach web design and other important non-photographic professional skills to photographers. In the '90s I wrote technology commentary and reviews for magazines, newspapers, and web publications, including Wired, Salon.com, FamilyPC, the late lamented Web Review, and the Chicago Tribune. Feel free to email me.

Colophon

This runs on Django, served by Apache and mod_python. The database is SQLite. The operating system is FreeBSD, on a VPS hosted at Johncompanies.com. Comment-spam protection by Akismet. Vintage topo imagery from the Maptech archive. The markup engine is Markdown.

The Book

Book cover I'm co-author of "Python Web Development with Django", an excellent guide to my favorite web framework. Published by Addison-Wesley in October 2008, it is available from Amazon and your favorite technical bookstore as well. Click on the book title above to learn more.

Pile o'Tags

Stuff I Use

Akismet, del.icio.us, Django, dpaste.com, Emacs, FreeBSD, Freenode, jQuery, LaunchBar, MacPorts, Markdown, Mercurial, OS X, Postfix, Python, SQLite, Subversion, TextMate, Trac, Ubuntu Linux, wmii

Spam Report

At least 45528 pieces of comment spam killed since January 12th, mostly via Akismet.

MySQL and SCO

I missed it last month when MySQL AB signed an agreeement with SCO. But it's hard to miss the backlash now. SCO peed in the pool and it's just not cool to hang out with them anymore. MySQL CEO Marten Mickos defends the deal in a Computer Business Review article from yesterday:

...Mickos maintained that MySQL's track record in promoting open source and opposing the European technology patent directive should retain the community's trust. "That's a hundred times more influential than any deal with SCO could have been," he said.

I think Mickos has underestimated the loathing SCO has earned. Or maybe he has already discounted the users who have decided to jump ship to PostgreSQL or SQLite on hearing this news. Perhaps some of those people are inveterate whiners with perverse resentment of open source companies that achieve commercial success. Perhaps.

MySQL has an enviable installed base, and will retain it for a long time no matter what -- switching RDBMS's is a lot harder than switching browsers. Nonetheless, this is a PR gaffe at best, and a deal with the devil at worst. If I'm remembering right, the companies SCO had the best luck extracting money from in its lawsuit spree were those who had already signed contracts with them.

Update: Via Jeremy Zawodny I discover another dramatic news item about MySQL: Oracle just bought Innobase Oy, a company that makes a key component of the MySQL system. Interesting times. See the comments on Jeremy's post for another idea about Oracle's motivations -- namely the relationship between MySQL AB and SAP, Oracle's competitor.

Tuesday, October 11th, 2005
open source