Michael Widenius is one of the authors of the original version of MySQL. Widenius is also a co-founder in MySQL AB, the company that owns MySQL. In 1995, Widenius worked with David Axmark to create the original MySQL and released a book seven years later called MySQL Reference Manual. Widenius was the CTO of MySQL AB until Sun Microsystems, Inc. (NASDAQ:JAVA) acquired them this past January.

Valleywag has reported that Widenius has put in his resignation at Sun yesterday. Although it is not known who will be Widenius’ replacement at Sun, there is speculation that it will be Brian Aker. Aker is another MySQL developer who is working on a lighter version of the web database software called Drizzle.

Aker also helped rewrite the database back-end behind Slashdot by converting it to Oracle. Aker has previously worked on Memcached storage, Blackhole storage, CSV storage, and WebMethods storage.

Image credit: Wikipedia

Brian “Krow” Aker chatted with Rackspace’s CTO a few months ago about memcached and Gearman.  Memcached is a distributed memory caching system that many large social networks use to handle all of their constant traffic.  Gearman is when a server calls out other faster servers to perform functions that they are better suited for.  Rackspace’s CTO asked Aker if he had ever though of creating more of a slim version of MySQL to work with Rackspace servers.  This question turned into a project called Drizzle.

Drizzle will have several components of MySQL stripped from it’s functionality including Stored Procedures, Views, Query Cache, Triggers, Prepared Statements, etc.  Drizzle opens up the development of MySQL to the open source community and now it won’t take years to have patches created.

Drizzle developers are constanty refactoring servers which will make the database system faster and more stable.  Drizzle won’t replace MySQL databases, but will enhance the experience.  Although the new database doesn’t have a timeline, the stable version of Drizzle is expected to release in 3-4 months.

Aker stated that this new open source project wouldn’t be possible without the Sun’s support.  Sun Microsystems, Inc. (NASDAQ:JAVA) acquired MySQL for $1 billion, $800 in cash and $200 in stock options.

Related Links:
1. Drizzle Wiki
2. Blog of Michael Widenius, MySQL founder and original developer
3. Brian Aker’s blog
4. Drizzle on Launchpad

“Today’s acquisition reaffirms Sun’s position at the center of the global Web economy. Supporting our overall growth plan, acquiring MySQL amplifies our investments in the technologies demanded by those driving extreme growth and efficiency, from Internet media titans to the world’s largest traditional enterprises,” stated Jonathan Schwartz, CEO and President at Sun Microsystems. “MySQL’s employees and culture, along with its near ubiquity across the Web, make it an ideal fit with Sun’s open approach to network innovation. And most importantly, this announcement boosts our investments into the communities at the heart of innovation on the Internet and of enterprises that rely on technology as a competitive weapon.”

Sun Microsystems, Inc. (NASDAQ:JAVA) announced that they have reached a definitive agreement to acquire MySQL AB for $1 billion.  MySQL AB is an open source database company that many of today’s biggest websites use, Facebook and YouTube included.  All the top blogs use MySQL as well including Pulse 2.0, TechCrunch, Mashable, GigaOM, etc.  The software that Google uses to power AdWords, the company’s biggest revenue source, depends on MySQL.

Sun’s goal for MySQL is to spread it among more of an enterprise environment through Sun’s relationships with Intel, IBM, and Dell.  LAMP, the software mash-up of Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP/Perl is also very commonly used to create dynamic web sites.  MySQL’s open source database software has been downloaded over 100 million times.  The software gets about 50,000 downloads per day as well.

MySQL will be integrated into Sun Microsystem’s Software, Sales, and Service organization.  Marten Miickos, CEO of MySQL will join Sun’s senior exec. leadership team as well.

“The combination of MySQL and Sun represents an enormous opportunity for users and organizations of all sizes seeking innovation, growth and choice,” stated Mickos. “Sun’s culture and business model complements MySQL’s own by sharing the same ideals that we have had since our foundation — software freedom, online innovation and community and partner participation. We are tremendously excited to work with Sun and the millions of members of the MySQL open source ecosystem to continue to deliver the best database for powering the modern Web economy.”

[Information Source: MySQL press release]