While IBM was interested in buying, they bailed out. Maybe because it was too costly in comparison to all the hoops IBM would have to go through. Being a hardware builder and integrator IBM would be required to pass through a ton of red tape to acquire Sun. Whereas with Oracle, who is more of a software builder and integrator has now acquired a new hardware endeavor and won’t have to cut through as much red tape.

When puzzles fit, and all the pieces are down, found and integrate, the reward is always a breath of fresh air. Executives and architects can get on with life – fixing things and getting on with business; and where sometimes a heated debate and heated acquisition can cause ire and bad feelings for years. That may be the best thing going for this deal.

As a database architect, I am most interested in the Oracle-MySQL debate. I’m all for the fact that Oracle can now narrow the focus of hardware-software integrations and make data centers more compatible and thus more stable from top to bottom. I am more worried about the possibilities of killing MySQL.

My interests for years have naturally fallen on Microsoft SQL Server becuase of the low-cost of ownership and the great amounts of opportunities in the database field to help business. I like the Oracle is a very mature software platform and has a tremendous amount of support in backing and technical allegiences. It’s very robust and capable. Just very costly. Then comes MySQL. I love the fact that it’s free. It has offered so many possibilities for small businesses and integrating a decent backend for applications and startups that it’s a great platform with some tremendous capabilities.

In hindsite, is the integration of transactions, logging, improved security, and clustering a little to late? Could this acquisition kill MySQL. As individual organizations (Oracle vs. Sun/MySQL) work on their independent database technologies, a healthy competition breeds momentum, creativity, and drive for improvement.

How will this stir the pot in kitchen? Does MySQL stand a chance as a spice in the rack of a restaurant like Oracle?

I will look forward to Oracle’s comments in the next few weeks about their plans with MySQL. Destroy or enhance?

I love the potential of MySQL and how it helps so many LAMP environments. The upcoming years will be interesting in the database world because of this acquisition, what will we see.

The .NET infrastructure is very flexible and is easier to use than people think. Here are the steps that I went through to get everything working and connected. Because I program in C# this tutorial is presented in that language. This is an outline of the process and steps to accomplish this tutorial. It helps to keep the ideas in check and that there are no missing subjects.

1. Install MySQL v5.0
2. Install Visual Studio (use the express editions if you don’t have full versions)
3. Install the MySQL 5.0 .NET Data Connector v5.2 (for example mysql-connector-net-5.2.1.zip) or other connector of your programming choice.
4. Start building a database
   1. A nice application to use is ModelRight 3 community edition
   2. Create two tables and add some fields and join one of the tables to the other in a parent-child relationship
   3. Generate (engineer) the database to MySQL
5. Open Visual Studio
6. Go to the Server Explorer, right-click on Data Connections
7. Click Add Connection
8. Change the datasource to MySQL Database and make sure the Data provider is .NET Framerwork Data Provider for MySQL and click OK
9. Login to the server with the following:
   1. Server name: localhost
   2. User name: root
   3. Password: the initial password you gave when setting up MySQL
   4. Database name: This is the name of the database you will attach to. It’s possible you haven’t set one up yet, see the Building a MySQL Database below.
10. Create a website application using Visual Studio (File | New | Website)
11. Pick ASP.NET Web Site (or ASP.NET AJAX-Enabled Web Site) if you have the .NET AJAX Toolkit installed.
12. Add the connection string to Web.Config
13. Update App_Code data layer classes to use the schema of the database
14. Add an Object Data Connection to the web page with the following settings
15. Put a DataGridView on the screen and connect it to the Object Data Connection object with these settings
16. Run the application