Tag Archives: mysql
Inspired by some recent LinkedIn posts, I decided to take the AI in my own hands and do some stats on the MariaDB and MySQL repositories.
This graph is what I’ve got.
Not only have MariaDB Server distinct contributors surpassed the distinct MySQL Server contributors count! The External MariaDB contributors alone did! *
This is how the Power Of the Community looks like!
- You get to use a more functional, performant and error free MariaDB Server
- You get a say in shaping the future of the MariaDB Server.
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Last week, Oracle invited MariaDB Foundation to give a presentation at Oracle’s MySQL Contributor Summit 2026. I had the opportunity to participate remotely and speak about MariaDB’s role within the broader MySQL ecosystem.
First of all, I would like to thank Heather VanCura, VP Community Engagement at Oracle, and Jason Wilcox, SVP Data Services at Oracle, for the invitation and for creating a space where these discussions could happen openly and constructively.
The presentation itself is available here on YouTube. At just over 17 minutes, it is reasonably compact viewing for anyone interested in the current state — and possible future direction — of the MySQL ecosystem.
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Earlier this month, I had a half-hour chat with Kellyn Gorman, a Database and AI Advocate and Engineer at Redgate. The UK software company is known for database DevOps and database management tools most databases – and since 2024 as the owner of DB-Engines popularity Ranking of database management systems.
The chat was an intellectual pleasure, to say the least. Kellyn is outstandingly well informed on databases, with a background starting in Oracle, spanning most databases as a DBA and industry analyst, and by now using MariaDB for about fifteen years, almost since its inception.
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Continue reading “Database Trends: What is changing in the database world (besides AI)”
Why MariaDB is both its own database — and the natural continuation of MySQL
Because MariaDB is at the same time a completely independent database and a fundamentally compatible extension of MySQL, the MySQL user base is not dependent upon Oracle nor upon new forks of MySQL for their future. For pragmatical reasons – and those have always carried weight in the MySQL universe – MariaDB is part of the MySQL ecosystem.
Applications, teams, skills, investments, and use cases — all of it remains viable within the MariaDB part of the MySQL ecosystem.
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FOSDEM was exciting from a MariaDB perspective for many reasons this year. For this blog, let me concentrate on one aspect: The discussions at what was called the “Summit for MySQL Community, Europe”, hosted by Percona on Monday 2 Feb 2026 at the Marriott Grand Place in central Brussels.
We got the answer key – the “Oracle examiner’s solution”
With many of my former MySQL AB colleagues leaving Oracle over the years, I certainly had a fairly good picture of what has been happening at Oracle since I left the company shortly after the acquisition of Sun Microsystems was completed in 2009.
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Continue reading “Reading the Room: What Europe’s MySQL Community Is Really Saying”
MariaDB is the natural replacement for MySQL. Why? Because it is the organic continuation of the MySQL that conquered the Internet. MySQL 8.0 is a fork of that foundation, while MariaDB stayed on track.
That said, the MySQL fork is soft: Compatibility remains remarkable and migration back to the mothership is smooth.
As the Chairman of the MariaDB Foundation, and someone having joined MySQL AB’s management team in 2001, that is my response to the article As Oracle loses interest in MySQL, devs mull future options in The Register.
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Continue reading “MariaDB is the natural replacement for MySQL”
At the MariaDB Foundation, clarity of purpose matters. In an ecosystem as foundational as open-source databases, confidence is built not through slogans, but through predictability, restraint, and long-term commitment.
As I reflect upon what we learned in 2025 and how we can serve the database community in 2026, one thought stands out: MariaDB is the natural successor to MySQL, as Oracle loses its interest in the development of what has been the default Open Source Relational DBMS.
The MariaDB Foundation recognises its responsibility. As uncertainty around MySQL’s long-term direction continues to grow, the global community of users, operators, and vendors quite reasonably seeks continuity.
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Continue reading “Making MariaDB the Natural Successor to MySQL”
The Queen’s Seven Predictions for 2026
When Queen Isabella I of Castile agreed to fund Columbus, it was not because the idea felt daring or exciting. It was because the old routes were failing. Europe’s trade system had become expensive, fragile, and constrained, and maintaining it unchanged was no longer a neutral decision. Supporting the voyage was not an act of romance, but of governance: an acceptance that continuing as before carried greater risk than change.
Crucially, nothing collapsed overnight. Trade still flowed. Goods still arrived. But every journey became longer, costlier, and more politically exposed.
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