MySQL in Wired

Wired article on MySQL gaining traction - 4000 paying customers (including Yahoo, Google, Caterpillar, UPS), $10MM in sales last year, 40% penetration among database developers. Good example of a low-end disruption. Interesting quote from a Microsoft product manager for the SQL server:

Tom Rizzo, Microsoft's director of product management for SQL Server, said he saw no immediate threat from open source, at least in the database arena.

"Typically, MySQL and other open-source database companies are used in small departments," Rizzo wrote in an e-mail. Developers tend to deploy open source to save the money or hassle of going through a cumbersome IT procurement process.

Rizzo cited the key advantage of the SQL Server over MySQL or other open-source databases as the "ability to provide innovative features that address complex needs of a user."

That's how low-end disruptions work - the product starts out being less full-featured than the existing higher-end products, so that it initially only takes away market share at the low end. As a result the market leader dismisses it as a threat. Over time it proceeds to get better, more full-featured and by the time it has ramped up the technology improvement curve it's already too late to stop the juggernaut.

As an aside, MySQL pursues an interesting dual-license strategy: you can either get the code for free (in which case you have to contribute back any changes you make) or you can pay for a license (in which case you can keep your modifications proprietary).