Ex-MySQL boss urges Europe to back Oracle-Sun deal

Oracle's proposed acquisition of Sun is being held up in Europe

The former chief executive of MySQL has written to Neelie Kroes, European commissioner for competition, urging her to approve Oracle's proposed acquisition of Sun Microsystems.

Mårten Mickos supports the deal because of the benefits it will bring to mySQL and the market in general, arguing that Oracle's purchase of Sun's MySQL database group will improve, rather than limit, competition in Europe.

Mickos warned that any delay would do just what the European Commission is seeking to avoid, i.e. hamstring other players.

"The impetus to write this letter comes from my concern with the talented teams of the MySQL business unit and of Sun in general," he wrote.

"I am also troubled by certain factual distortions about a subject that I am intimately familiar with: MySQL and its business model. Open-source business models are complicated and quite different, and it took many years to fully understand and shape the one of MySQL.

"It is unlike any traditional business. The key point is that both the users and the vendors of open source are engaged in a powerful free-market dynamic that cannot be contained by any single entity."

Mickos resigned from his position at mySQL earlier this year, and explained in the letter that he is simply acting as an informed and interested party. He concludes by reiterating his belief that any further delay will do more harm than good.

"I would ask that you consider the market dynamics and the facts. Every new day of uncertainty is potentially very harmful to the various businesses of Sun, reducing competition in the market," Mickos said.

"A delay in the closing of this transaction is therefore only going to work against the respectable goal that you set out to achieve when launching the probe into this acquisition."