MySQL is a really good database and it's been available for a very long time under an open source license - indeed this piece of text will be stored in a MySQL database when I've added it to our web site using the Movable Type software , and pulled back from there using both Movable type software (here), and also our own software (here). However, it has always been at the more commercial end of the Open Source movement, with tighter licensing conditions that most. That was the background for MySQL drivers being withdrawn from PHP at release 5 of PHP (if you want MySQL in release 5 of PHP, you have to download MySQL yourself, first, before you build as there's not a bundle - we do this on our LAMP deployment and Web Server Deployment courses. And that tighter license helped to add to the commercial value of the MySQL company which sold out about a year ago to Sun Microsystems for a reputed 1 billion dollars.

We've just received an email from Google - and I'm pretty sure it's genuine - telling us that we can no longer use the keyword "MySQL" in our Adwords campaigns. Because "MySQL" is a trademark.


> > ----------------------------------------------
> > Campaign: 'Wiltshire,' Ad Group: 'Ad Group #1'
> > ----------------------------------------------
> >
> > AD TEXT:
> >
> > Melksham, Wiltshire, UK
> > Perl PHP Java Tcl/Tk MySQL & Java
> > Scheduled and private courses
> > www.wellho.co.uk
> >
> > Action taken: Suspended - Pending Revision
> > Issue(s): Ad Text Trademark Term
> > ~~~~~~~~~
> >
> > SUGGESTIONS:
> > -> Ad Content: Please remove the following trademark from your ad:
> > mysql.

Now that's an interesting one!

I used to express an opinion that the MySQL folks had done their database a dis-service by having a license that restricted it so that it could no longer be part of the PHP distribution - in some quarters, the lack of the MySQL driver in the PHP distribution persuaded people NOT to upgrade / use a technology where two of the key element's players couldn't agree on a combined, Open Source download. And that it did not bode very well for the future. I may be wrong in that opinion as they seem to go from strength to strength and are probably (I've not got the commercial figures of course) doing a good job in making more people purchase rather than use the open source version.

I've plenty more to do than to do anything to fight to keep the MySQL as a Google keyword, and our model is open source, so I'll be suggesting to Chris who looks after the various campaigns that we update ads like the one above to push our Lua (on the most open of open source licenses, and also much more fun to teach as it's a language not a database) and Ruby courses ...
(written 2009-03-16, updated 2009-03-17)

 S154 - MySQL - Designing an SQL Database System
  [59] MySQL - Pivot tables - (2004-09-22)
  [361] Binary Large Objects or bars - (2005-06-27)
  [375] Oops - I got my initial database design wrong - (2005-07-12)
  [494] MySQL - a score of things to remember - (2005-11-12)
  [515] MySQL - an FAQ - (2005-12-03)
  [666] Database design - get it right from first principles - (2006-04-02)
  [918] Databases needn't be frightening, hard or expensive - (2006-11-08)
  [937] Display an image from a MySQL database in a web page via PHP - (2006-11-22)
  [945] Code quality counts - (2006-11-26)
  [1423] MySQL - table design and initial testing example - (2007-11-06)
  [1575] Database design for a shopping application (MySQL) - (2008-03-15)
  [1771] More HowTo diagrams - MySQL, Tomcat and Java - (2008-08-24)
  [2053] What a difference a MySQL Index made - (2009-02-25)
  [2204] Images in a database? How big is a database? (MySQL) - (2009-05-28)
  [2749] Delegate Question - defining MySQL table relationships as you create the tables - (2010-05-02)
  [3270] SQL - Data v Metadata, and the various stages of data selection - (2011-04-29)
  [3361] Blowing our own trumpet - MySQL resources - (2011-07-18)
  [3494] Databases - when to treat the rules as guidelines - (2011-10-23)
  [4426] FileMaker Day to Unix Time conversion - (2015-02-15)

S153 - Sourcing, Running and Configuring MySQL
  [192] Current MySQL and PHP paths and upgrades - (2005-01-28)
  [334] Symbolic links and hard links - (2005-06-02)
  [489] Which MySQL server am I using? - (2005-11-07)
  [535] MySQL permissions and privileges - (2005-12-20)
  [591] Key facts - SQL and MySQL - (2006-02-04)
  [907] Browser -> httpd -> Tomcat -> MySQL. Restarting. - (2006-10-28)
  [1095] Apache httpd , browser, MySQL and MySQL client downloads - (2007-02-28)
  [1123] mysqldump and mysqlrestore - (2007-03-30)
  [1131] MySQL - Password security (authentication protocol) - (2007-04-02)
  [1689] Some sideways thoughts on the news - (2008-06-27)
  [1731] Apache httpd, MySQL, PHP - installation procedure - (2008-08-01)
  [1935] Summary of MySQL installation on a Linux system - (2008-12-11)
  [2209] Monitoring and Tuning your MySQL installation - (2009-05-31)
  [2426] Which version of MySQL am I running? - (2009-09-26)
  [2444] Potted MySQL installation - (2009-10-09)
  [2445] Securing MySQL on a production server - (2009-10-09)
  [2458] Cant connect to local MySQL server through socket /tmp/mysql.sock - (2009-10-17)
  [4390] Checking MySQL database backups have worked (not failed) - (2015-01-10)
  [4406] Fixing damaged MySQL tables - Error 1712 and Error 2013 - (2015-01-25)
  [4487] Starting MySQL. ERROR! The server quit without updating PID file - how we fixed it. - (2015-05-06)

S050 - MySQL - General
  [2134] Oracle take over Sun who had taken over MySQL - (2009-04-21)
  [2240] How do I query a database (MySQL)? - (2009-06-15)
  [2559] Moving the product forward - ours, and MySQL, Perl, PHP and Python too - (2010-01-01)
  [2561] The future of MySQL - (2010-01-03)
  [2567] Extra MySQL course dates (2 day course, UK) - (2010-01-08)
  [2861] MySQL and Java - connectivity past, present, and future thoughts - (2010-07-09)

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The Longest Day - Wednesday, 28th September
Changing the 404 - file not found - page in Tomcat
Comparing Java Courses - what can we do?
C Programming v Learning to Program in C. Which course?
MySQL - licensing issues, even with using the name
Books and distance learning from Well House Consultants?
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Jmeter - a first test case
Connecting jconsole remotely - the principles
Using ApacheBench and jconsole to test and monitor Tomcat