MySQL creator launches bid to block Oracle Sun deal

Deal could hit consumers and small businesses.

The co-creator of the MySQL database currently owned by Sun Microsystems has started a campaign to “keep the internet free” and prevent Oracle from buying Sun.

Michael “Monty” Widenius argued in a blog posting earlier this week that consumers and small businesses in particular would be hit if the Oracle acquisition of Sun goes through.

“It's not in the internet user's interest that one key piece of the net would be owned by an entity that has more to gain by severely limiting and in the long run even killing it as an open source product than by keeping it alive,” he wrote.

“If Oracle were allowed to acquire MySQL, we would be looking at less competition among databases, which will mean higher license and support prices.”

Widenius also explained he has launched a SaveMySQL petition in several languages to try and sway the European Commission’s decision in the Oracle Sun case.

Although regulators in the US have approved the deal, European regulators are still investigating whether it may be anti-competitive.

But time may be running out for Widenius and his campaign. The EC released a statement earlier this year saying Competition Commissioner is “optimistic that the case will have a satisfactory outcome”.

The legal deadline for a final decision on the Oracle/Sun deal under the EU Merger Regulation is 27 January 2010.