Licensing Issues

only for RuBoard - do not distribute or recompile

To those who are unfamiliar with the Open Source software movement, it often means free. The term free software scares a lot of people, especially those used to paying for software that doesn t function as advertised. Yes, you can get a lot of software off the Net for no cost (other than electricity and phone time), but you will probably pay for it one way or another. The normal mode of payment is in the form of a steep learning curve ”as in, there is no GUI. So if your time is limited, you should seriously consider using software with an easier learning curve.

Most professional database administrators, however, appreciate power features more than your typical manager or others who might be interested in a database product. Plus, once you learn the fundamentals of what makes up a good database, that knowledge transfers to other products readily because MySQL is ANSI 92-compliant.

As of June 2000, MySQL is General Public License (GPL). What does that mean? To most people, it means you can download the software and use it, even to run your business. However, because I do not officially or unofficially speak for anyone at MySQL, I will take the liberty of reprinting the following paragraph from their Web site (http://www.mysql.com/information/index.html):

MySQL is Open Source Software. Open source means that it is possible for anyone to use and modify. Anybody can download MySQL from the Internet and use it without paying anything. Anybody so inclined can study the source code and change it to fit their needs. MySQL uses the GPL (GNU General Public License) http://www.gnu.org, to define what you may and may not do with the software in different situations. If you feel uncomfortable with the GPL or need to embed MySQL into a commercial application you can buy a commercially licensed version from us.

You will have to decide if that fits your needs. For a full text of the GPL, go to www.gnu.org. In practice, MySQL is free for all uses, except when you embed MySQL into a not-open-source program, in which case you can buy a license to get the MySQL source under another copyright. MySQL AB makes most of their money not on license revenue but by providing many different kinds of support for MySQL. This strategy ensures that they stay close to their users and also that they get money so they can continue developing MySQL.

only for RuBoard - do not distribute or recompile