Russell J.T. Dyer - Learning MySQL and MariaDB

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When my business partner David Axmark and I started MySQL, there werent any good, free, open source database systems. There was mSQL , which wasnt open source, but it inspired us to create a new database system for our clients, which would later become MySQL. We had no plans to do anything more with this embryo of MySQL other than satisfy the needs of our clients. We were learning, discovering, and creating out of practical concerns and needs, much as you might and perhaps should be doing as a reader of this book and a newcomer to MySQL and MariaDB.

Although we had accomplished our task in creating a straightforward database to meet ourrequirements, it wasnt long before we noticed that there were many other organizations that werelooking for a solution similar to what we had already developed. So we decided to make the softwareavailable to the public and we named it MySQL .

Part of our motivation for doing this was that we felt that it was a way in which we could give something back to the open source community that would be very useful. Most open source projects at that time werent as useful. We wanted to make the world a little betterwe had no idea at that time how much of an impact MySQL would have on the world. At the same time, we were hoping that by going public with the software, it might finance further development of MySQL for as long as we might want. We had expectations of getting rich from MySQL. We hoped only to be able to work full-time on this project because we believed in it. The result, though, was that we contributed much to the worldmuch more than we thought possible.

Given the fact that over 80% of the websites in the world are now running on MySQL, one could easily argue that we accelerated the growth of the internet and almost everything that has grown out of it. The impact its had is immeasurable. Many of the sites and businesses that have been successful, including the ones that are now huge, probably would never have started if it were not for MySQL being free and dependable. At that time, those founders and startup companies just didnt have the financial resources to start their sites. The cost of commercial database software was a barrier to some of the most creative web-based organizations being launched, including organizations like Google, Wikipedia, and Facebook. Plus, the commercial database systems posed other problems for startups of that time. First, they were too slowthey werent optimized for the Web and that was critical for organizations like these. The commecial alternatives were also too difficult to use and manage, requiring higher paid developers.

Because of these factors, we were able to give fledgling organizations what they needed to become the significant components of the Internet and a major part of the lives of most people in the world today. We were a critical component of the development of the Internet and we still are. Theres nothing to indicate that we wont continue to be so. The growth of MySQL and especially of MariaDB is increasing. Its not decreasing as some people expected with the introduction of new databases systems and methods such as NoSQL.

MySQL became a dominant database system long ago. Once something becomes dominant, its difficult to replace it. Even if something better comes along, people prefer whats already familiar to them and what they already know and are using. For something to replace MySQL as the dominant open source database, it would have to be not only critically better, but also offer a way for people to migrate without much effort, and without wasting all of the knowledge they accumulated from their current system. This is why MariaDB can replace MySQL: its basically the same thing, but with more features and more potential for the future.