http://helpmysql.org/en/theissue/customerspaythebill

 

In April 2009, Oracle announced that it had agreed to acquire Sun. Since Sun had acquired MySQL the previous year, this would mean that Oracle, the market leader for closed source databases, would get to own MySQL, the most popular open source database.

 

If Oracle acquired MySQL on that basis, it would have as much control over MySQL as money can possibly buy over an open source project. In fact, for most open source projects (such as Linux or Apache) there isn't any comparable way for a competitor to buy even one tenth as much influence. But MySQL's success has always depended on the company behind it that develops, sells and promotes it. That company (initially MySQL AB, then Sun) has always owned the important intellectual property rights (IPRs), most notably the trademark, copyright and (so far only for defensive purposes) patents. It has used the IPRs to produce income and has reinvested a large part of those revenues in development, getting not only bigger but also better with time.

 

If those IPRs fall into the hands of MySQL's primary competitor, then MySQL immediately ceases to be an alternative to Oracle's own high-priced products. So far, customers had the choice to use MySQL in new projects instead of Oracle's products. Some large companies even migrated (switched) from Oracle to MySQL for existing software solutions. And every one could credibly threaten Oracle's salespeople with using MySQL unless a major discount was granted. If Oracle owns MySQL, it will only laugh when customers try this. Getting rid of this problem is easily worth one billion dollars a year to Oracle, if not more.

 

Give them a push from the Aussie and New Zealand side of things.

Or we could all just use PostgreSQL instead :-p

 

Honestly though if the deal goes ahead, I'd say MySQL is beyond saving. Oracle might keep it as a crippled, heavily licence-restricted freebie but even that may be unlikely in the long term. I also doubt writing to the EC will change anything - they're probably as corrupt as hell anyway and even if they weren't, I doubt they'd give a crap about such a small component of the acquisition.

I understand your concern but both companies are based in the US and I doubt that you will convince the US government to stop the sale over one bit of software.