May I have this dance?

Looks as if there's a new partner in town. I see that ANTS Software is now listed on the MySQL website as a gold partner. The listing may have been there for a while, but I just noticed it today.

A quote from this ANTs listing, "ACS accelerates database migration to MySQL while enabling portability for legacy application", sounds as if the migration to MySQL is as easy as the migration from Sybase to Oracle. Let's see now, that's Sybase to Oracle, Oracle to MySQL, MySQL to IBM, IBM to ...... I believe the dance floor is getting a bit crowded. Brings to mind the lyrics of an old song I used to like, "save the last dance for me."

One other tidbit that makes me go hummmm. This posting, also from the ANTs listing at MySQL,

Products for MySQL from ANTs Software

• ANTs Compatibility Server

  The ANTs Compatibility Server is a middleware solution which allows server side code (queries, functions, and stored procedures) from legacy databases to run natively and transparently against the MySQL database with little-to-no application rewrite.

reads "products." Are there currently "products" from ***** to MySQL? (Use the database of your choice.)

Reading about this MySQL /ANTs partnership just makes the musings in my prior post all the more interesting and plausible.

ANTs in an open source format dancing with MySQL.

And the beat goes on!

~~David~~

Thousands (or Millions) of Programmers Needed!!!

I wonder if this ad could possibly be in the future for ANTs.

After reading the Sun Micro press release regarding their purchase of MySQL, I can't help but ponder the idea of an Open Source business model for ANTs. I must admit that I don't understand the intricacies of the open source income engine, giving away your product to make money, but I have been trying to get up to speed on how that might be profitable for ANTs.


One thing I do understand about Open Source is that Marten Mickos, CEO of MySQL has made a ton of money giving away MySQL . According to the Sun Micro press release at the time of their purchasing MySQL, "More than 100 million copies of MySQL's high-performance open source database software have been downloaded and distributed and an additional 50,000 copies are downloaded daily." I suspect that being given away is not the "big secret" in the MySQL story, but its success was a result of being a product in great demand with superior support. That, in turn, lead to widespread acceptability and use in the open source community. The new and disruptive characteristics of the ACS would surely attract the curiosity of the open source community as well. Then, with stellar support from ANTs, added functionality provided by this hoard of zealous developers and sufficient demand by large enterprise users the open source business model could be put to the test yet again.

In a MIT Sloan Management Review article that I found very interesting, Mr Mickos gives insight into how the open source model has worked for MySQL . Part of the secret is to have 12 Million programmers that require no salaries, no benefits, no work spaces and no tax liabilities.... All working on YOUR product and bragging about it.. What an employers Nirvana.

And as if the success of MySQL wasn't enough, Mr Mickos has now orchestrated the sale of his $50 million per year open source company for almost $1 Billion. My bet is that with the ACS in it's quiver, MySQL would have one heck of a value proposition to offer the 100's of thousands of existing applications sitting on proprietary databases costing customers millions in support each year. Seems to me that Sun Micro will certainly recognize the fit that the ACS has with MySQL in accelerating this migration of there competitor's databases onto MySQL. Oracle certainly has recognized the speed, ease and reliability of the ACS in moving Sybase applications to Oracle. So?? Open source or not....

Maybe Marten Mickos can give ANTs a hint at how the ACS can be given away and money be made in the process. But then again, maybe Oracle doesn't want that to happen. Either way, I will enjoy being part of a win win combination.

Enough babbling from me, tell me where I'm wrong.......if I'm wrong.

~~David~~

AT&T, IBM speed-up the move to Cloud Computing

Cloud computing has not yet been fully defined (though Dell has tried to trademark the phrase). However, by moving information from a data center into a "cloud" from where you draw the info and programs you want continues to move ahead. Though, with the economy soft, some might delay this move, it does appear that more companies will move to the "software on demand" structure.

Verizon to Thunder on i-Phone's Parade?

I recently attended Inman Connect in San Francisco. One of the speakers onstage at the Palace Hotel tried to pull something up on his new 3G Apple i-Phone, but had no service.

Frustrated, he lamented AT&T's poor service and compared the i-Phone to a Lambborghini running on a VW engine--and I joined the audience applause.

Why Apple tied its flagship phone to a carrier with such spotty coverage (unless you are traveling abroad) escapes me. I can't even reach a close friend just 3 miles away in Carlsbad, CA on her AT&T cell because it is outside its coverage area.

I love Apple and its products. This article is being written on an i-Mac and I lust after the 3G i-Phone, but stick with Verizon for cell service because of its unbeatable coverage. Being out of range for calls just doesn't work well for a San Diego Realtor.

It's a painful choice: Go with Apple and suffer AT&T's spotty coverage areas, or stick with Verizon and my trusted Blackberry and not have to worry about lack of service?

For professional reasons, there is no alternative but to stay with Verizon--but there may be hope on the horizon--or at least by the third quarter of this year. Research in Motion (RIMM) is coming out with the new Thunder Blackberry that will be carried exclusively by Verizon and Vodaphone.

With just four clicking keys, this black beauty will run on 3G EV-DO Rev. C as well as GSM HSPA for international use. This will apparently allow the Blackberry Thunder to operate in any country with 3G or better internet access. There are rumors that the Thunder may even be faster than the i-Phone for downloads.

Where there's thunder, there's lightning--and there may be some fireworks in the telecom biz to watch at year's end. If Research in Motion's Blackberry Thunder is as slick as I think it is, we'll probably contract with Verizon for another two years.

--Roberta Murphy