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Weblog:   Why MySQL grew so fast (news from the 2004 MySQL Users Conference)
Subject:   Dual Licensing
Date:   2004-04-19 13:41:20
From:   larsd
Dual-licensed software will always have grey areas, just by their very nature of being dual-licensed.


As far as MySQL is concerned, the decision whether to pay license fees or not could be helped by answering the question 'Is MySQL essential to the core business?'.


For the asirline online booking system the answer is obviously 'no', whereas for the MMOG the answer is 'yes': the airline is in the business of moving cargo and people around, MySQL is important only insofar as it makes it easier to keep track of everything. The MMOG on the other hand is tightly coupled with MySQL: without the DB, there would be no game.
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  • Dual Licensing
    2004-04-20 22:49:05  SeunOsewa [Reply | View]

    This reasoning is extremely faulty. Do you know any airline any age that can function without an information system? Do you know any information system that is not based on a relational database? If the MySQL server in an airline's information system is down, can it function?

    Or look at it this way. For the game, MySQL also "only" helps to keep track of everything. They could as well use another database system, a hand-crafted file management routine, etc. "Keeping track of everything" is essentially what a database system such as MySQL does, for both scenarios.
    • Dual Licensing
      2004-10-27 07:10:34  Grumpy [Reply | View]

      You are correct in stating that the airline needs an information system. However it need not be MySQL, it could just as easily (for the sake of argument) be Postgresql, so they don't need to pay the licence fee. If MySQL demanded the licence fee, they have the option of taking their business elsewhere and very likely would. As Larsd pointed out, the airline is not tied to MySQL whereas the game developers are.
    • Dual Licensing
      2004-04-21 12:03:56  oldandslow [Reply | View]

      The difference is the airlines are selling tickets for travel, not software. The gaming company is selling software. The core business is different between the two. The gaming company is planning on revenue from what they sell (software) and MySQL wants a cut of the pie (maybe recurring revenue on subscription model). The other thing to consider is the airline prob. purchased the ticketing/web software from another party and the third party would (or should) have purchased a license.
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