I recently read an article that the Author of MySQL, who was working for Sun, left the company due to a disagreement of where Sun was leading MySQL. I know this site is primarily geared towards Oracle, however it is DB related for certain, and interesting news to say the least.

He has spawned off a parallel DB called MariaDB. According to the site, the intent is to keep development in parallel to MySQL but extend the functionality.

From indications, all the standard MySQL syntax and APIs will continue to work. Not sure how this might impact the use of MySQL or possible inclusion of MariaDB in the future for my ISP, but I guess we will see.

For the departure article

Time to Move On

For info on MariaDB

MariaDB Project

Differences between MySQLDB and MariaDB

Maria vs MySQL