Colin Charles Agenda - Latest Comments

Re: Shopify, Off The Rack Asia – e-commerce hots up in Malaysia

colincharles — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 09:56:16 -0000

unn?

Re: Shopify, Off The Rack Asia – e-commerce hots up in Malaysia

daphne — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 06:57:53 -0000

check out the unn website

Re: MariaDB replaces MySQL in RHEL7

colincharles — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 10:47:30 -0000

And to further keep track of this, Red Hat has now said that no decision has been made, but the focus is on Software Collections.

* http://www.h-online.com/open/n...

* http://www.zdnet.com/red-hat-e...

* http://linux.slashdot.org/stor...

Re: MariaDB replaces MySQL in RHEL7

gavin — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 02:11:48 -0000

Now watch Oracle buy 10gen/MongoDB...

Re: MariaDB replaces MySQL in RHEL7

colincharles — Sat, 15 Jun 2013 18:31:38 -0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v... is worth a watch. 27:15 if you're interested in finding out that MongoDB is coming along. 27:30 if you want to know how MariaDB is being focused on.

As always, more articles have been written on this:

* http://www.itwire.com/opinion-...

* http://www.theregister.co.uk/2...

Re: MariaDB replaces MySQL in RHEL7

colincharles — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 18:19:56 -0000

And if anyone wants some news clips:

* http://www.techweekeurope.co.u...

* http://www.itwire.com/business... (quotes from Arjen Lentz, and a lengthy comment stream too)

Re: MariaDB replaces MySQL in RHEL7

colincharles — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 18:03:12 -0000

Hi Lenz,

Its just like Fedora 19 from the information that I have: http://www.bytebot.net/blog/ar...

I think its hard not to have MySQL at the moment.

Re: MariaDB replaces MySQL in RHEL7

Lenz — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 16:27:23 -0000

FWIW, Major later stated: "I may have misspoken. MySQL will be there but it won't be the default (speaker clarified)."

Source: https://plus.google.com/110443...

Re: Immediate thoughts on Business Source Licensing

Arjen Lentz — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 19:41:51 -0000

The business source license would only make sense for a product that doesn't have open source development, but rather was using or would use open source publishing. That is, all development is done internally, and only the releases are open source rather than the development process.

If a product is developed in that way, it could be GPL and be sold to clients. That is, anyone who wants the product buys it, and gets the source with it under GPL license. Most clients have their own core business and will have zero interest in re-publishing that code. They just have the code available in case anything happens.

So from this perspective, I don't see the point of having a business source license at all, as it amounts to the same as using GPL in the way described above.

However, open source publishing has issues, whereas open source development has proven advantages including better code quality and higher contributor rate. With business source it's even worse, with the source only becoming available to a larger group after some time. This inevitably limits the number of people with expertise. That may be regarded as an asset (clients have a limited set of service providers to choose from) but for those who need expertise internally, it's highly problematic.

Also remember how when MySQL Enterprise Edition received new features and bugfixes not yet present in MySQL Community Edition, those clients also had the joy of being the first limited set of users encountering new bugs. Had the development model been open, the bugs would have been spotted or encountered by the community much earlier and probably never even existed in a release. It was bad for quality.

So, the problem with the development model at Oracle is merely an extension of the open source publishing employed at MySQL AB. Its problems are not mitigated by going even more closed or being differently closed. The problem is that the closed aspects hinder bug finding, code quality, and even release speed (as the QA cycle is slower, if you do want to deliver good quality with fewer testers and no external feedback).

Thus, it is my conclusion that the solution is to be more open, and always employ the full open source development model. This produces the best code quality and serious users respect that. Crying that people won't pay is silly, the trick is to figure out what people actually need.
Annual support contracts (aka insurance policies) are quite outdated. People demand value for money, what do they actually get out of it?

My company sells services that people actually need in a way that makes sense to them, and my clients are even happy to pay a bit on top directly for the MariaDB Foundation. This is how Open Query funds its sponsorship (and future membership), it's directly paid for by its clients. We all have a stake in MariaDB's future, and that's not a hard sell at all.

Dual licensing possibly made sense for some time, but it definitely doesn't now (not just because we're all on the receiving end of its problems rather than being the owners).
I think business source has a similar issue. It tries to mitigate the negative effects of part of the development and business model by introducing more restrictions, thereby hindering all kinds of things that a healthy product ecosystem requires.
Once you have established that overview, I cannot imagine why anyone would think this could be a good idea.

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure it can make money - but that doesn't mean anything for the long-term quality of the product, the ecosystem, or even the company that makes the profit. I conclude it is not a good idea.

Re: MariaDB in Red Hat Software Collections

colincharles — Sat, 08 Jun 2013 00:24:42 -0000

while i cannot speak about mysql 5.6, mariadb 10 is available at downloads.mariadb.org for RHEL6 (i.e. you have repositories available). so the question becomes: how important is it for you to have binaries/RPMS coming from redhat?

Re: MariaDB in Red Hat Software Collections

Hm — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 16:13:53 -0000

What about 5.6? MariaDB 10?

Re: Percona has more MariaDB features now

colincharles — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 22:47:23 -0000

You're right, I completely forgot about the security stuff.

We benefit greatly from XtraDB and its great that there's collaboration between the two of us - this is the value of opensource!

Re: Percona has more MariaDB features now

Laurynas Biveinis — Sun, 02 Jun 2013 02:59:04 -0000

Thanks Colin.

I'd add one more thing to that list: CVE security fixes and their testcases. Especially I'd note the fix for CVE-2012-4414, which has the (by now) infamous rpl_mdev382.test testcase. It has been used to partially invalidate two Oracle fixes in a row (http://www.mysqlperformanceblo..., http://www.mysqlperformanceblo..., truly a gift that keeps on giving.

Re: Najib government/1Malaysia tech report card

colincharles — Fri, 31 May 2013 23:34:03 -0000

http://thestar.com.my/news/sto... is a great article

"Dr Ng said the budget for Impact Creations (M) Sdn Bhd, which had secured a RM30mil ceiling contract for the domestic tourism advertising campaign via open tender, included expenses for digital advertising onGoogle, Facebook and other websites and to run, manage and monitor responses."

Re: Najib government/1Malaysia tech report card

colincharles — Fri, 31 May 2013 23:02:37 -0000

I forgot the RM1.8 million facebook pages for the tourism ministry (http://www.themalaysianinsider...

I forgot the price check portal (RM1.4 million) - Malaysia Pengguna Bijak - http://www.themalaysianinsider... && http://www.1pengguna.com/11pen... (version 2)

Re: Najib government/1Malaysia tech report card

colincharles — Thu, 23 May 2013 17:58:49 -0000

thanks!

Re: Najib government/1Malaysia tech report card

kar2on — Thu, 23 May 2013 02:56:41 -0000

http://www.keithrozario.com/

http://www.keithrozario.com/20...

Re: Najib government/1Malaysia tech report card

colincharles — Tue, 21 May 2013 22:46:38 -0000

where are your written articles? some links would be awesome, thanks @Keith Rozario

Re: Najib government/1Malaysia tech report card

kar2on — Tue, 21 May 2013 22:43:14 -0000

For kampung Wifi, I wrote a small post on it early 2012, other than that nothing much --which is a problem because the project supposedly cost RM65Million!!

Don't forget the security offences act as well--that one I'm going to write on pretty soon. A lot of folks focused on the detention part, while skimming through the scarier bit that allows the government to spy on your internet communications.

Re: Should I buy the BlackBerry Q10?

colincharles — Mon, 20 May 2013 18:49:12 -0000

yup, i think the price point is completely way off.

Re: Thinking about online food delivery services

atreyu strange — Mon, 20 May 2013 06:34:19 -0000

Lots of improvement from the Room Service guys lately. And better off, when I get my food via the deal site (they merged with MyDEAL, I guess?). Seeing a lot of their deals on the MyDEAL.com.my site these days.. I just buy them off there. :P

Re: Should I buy the BlackBerry Q10?

Mellissa — Mon, 13 May 2013 22:21:09 -0000

I've seen it, and it's a pretty sexy but it's for die hard Blackberry fans. Was thinking of getting it as a secondary phone (I can't do Android ...) but it's pretty pricey. Think I'll get another iPhone instead.

Re: Najib government/1Malaysia tech report card

colincharles — Fri, 10 May 2013 19:41:52 -0000

do you have more information about kampung wifi? You're right, I did forget the evidence act 114a. Thanks. I think at some stage, a reporter should take on the list and write a proper article with research references, etc.

Re: Najib government/1Malaysia tech report card

kar2on — Thu, 09 May 2013 21:21:03 -0000

you forgot the evidence act, which I view as a top failure. Good overall summary though. How about things like kampung WiFi?

Re: When hackers gather

colincharles — Fri, 03 May 2013 04:21:15 -0000

Hey shawn, I'm definitely not the right person for this considering I myself am not in Malaysia on a weekly basis...