From: "Britt Johnston" <britt@nusphere.com> To: corbet@lwn.net Subject: Re: [Fwd: Re: mysql.org] Date: Wed, 18 Jul 2001 11:09:40 -0400 NuSphere Response to MySQL AB's Open Invitation ----------------------------------------------- NuSphere accepts MySQL AB's invitation to discuss resolution of our business issues. NuSphere and MySQL AB have already spoken via phone and confirmed discussions will commence on Friday, July 20th. NuSphere would welcome a fresh approach by MySQL AB to resolving these issues. The public postings and attempts to incite the community were not in the best interest of MySQL. We would welcome a productive dialog rather than a public campaign. NuSphere requests that MySQL AB continue discussions in the tone and spirit of the invitation. The pattern that has taken place over the past several months of extreme action by MySQL AB, followed by overtures for negotiation, continues to damage the trust needed to establish the further agreements that MySQL AB seeks. We note that public statements have been made after the invitation, statements that are not in the spirit of the invitation. During our discussions commencing Friday, we are willing to address the issue of delaying legal proceedings. MySQL AB must understand that its strong and very public statements denying the validity of the agreement we entered into on June 21, 2000, denying the rights granted to use MySQL related trademarks, and now denying the financial and technical contributions that NuSphere has made to MySQL, all underscore the need to seek legal enforcement of our rights. Any delay that NuSphere could agree to would require that MySQL AB show restraint and a spirit of cooperation in its ongoing public statements. As you are aware, we are forming a not-for-profit corporation to focus on building and supporting a larger MySQL development community and promoting MySQL. The mysql.org domain is expected to be transferred to that organization. NuSphere has taken the lead and is covering the costs of forming this organization and expects it will take some time before it can operate on its own. We firmly believe that establishing a source of information independent of any for-profit corporation is an important step for the long term health of the MySQL community. We encourage you to reconsider your opposition and join us in supporting this effort. The Gemini storage manager is now available under the GPL license via mysql.org. The new Gemini table handler, storage manager, and the existing MyISAM table handler provide the most scalable and reliable version of MySQL ever. This release completes the commitment NuSphere made and we jointly announced in January 2001 when our relationship was strong. Gemini as released under the GPL provides all the support for transactions, row level locking and crash recovery essential for building commercial applications. MySQL AB is encouraged to incorporate this significant contribution to the MySQL server sources to eliminate concerns about a fork. Regrettably MySQL AB cut off NuSphere's prior direct access to make those changes. NuSphere is a major sponsor of the OSCON 2001 conference and intends to heavily promote MySQL at the event. NuSphere has organized a MySQL track to further promote MySQL on both a technical and business level at the conference. NuSphere continues to support the formation of a noncommercial organization. All of these demonstrate the strength and depth of our commitment to the MySQL community. Your willingness to return to resolving our issues in a business-like fashion would be welcome. Sincerely, Britt Johnston CTO, NuSphere Corporation