MySQL Conference Notes

This is not my notes about the MySQL conference that just occurred. These are my thoughts about MySQL conferences in general. Baron wrote in The History of OpenSQL Camp:

After O’Reilly/MySQL co-hosted MySQL Conference and Expo (a large commercial event) that year, there was a bit of dissatisfaction amongst a few people about the increasingly commercial and marketing-oriented nature of that conference. Some people refused to call the conference by its new name (Conference and Expo) and wanted to put pressure on MySQL to keep it a MySQL User’s Conference.

During this year’s conference, I heard a lot of concern about whether or not O’Reilly would have a MySQL conference, and whether or not Oracle would decide to sponsor. I heard all of the following (in no particular order):

* If O’Reilly does not have a conference, what will we do?
* Maybe [http://www.opensqlcamp.org OpenSQLCamp] can be bigger instead of having an O’Reilly conference, because the O’Reilly conference is more commercial.
* If Oracle does not sponsor the O’Reilly conference, it means they don’t care about MySQL/the MySQL community.
* If Oracle sponsors the O’Reilly conference, they’ll ruin it by making it even more commercial.
* Oracle shouldn’t sponsor the O’Reilly conference, they should make a different technical conference, in a different hotel/location and bigger (6,000 people instead of 2,000).
* Oracle shouldn’t make their own technical conference for MySQL, they should let user groups get together and then sponsor it, like they do with Collaborate.

Obviously there are mixed messages here — I don’t see any clear directive from the community. Plenty of people have a strong opinion. What I do see happening is that there will probably be plenty of options:

I know that OpenSQLCamp is not dead — there will be 2 this year, check the website for details.

I also know know that there will be a *real* MySQL track at Oracle OpenWorld — there was a rumor that the number of sessions would be fewer than 5, but sources on the inside have said that will not be the case.

I also know that we will hear from O’Reilly in the next few months about next year’s MySQL conference.

So, regardless of what happens, the nay-sayers will say how awful it is, and the pollyannas will say how great it is. There are plenty of reasons that each scenario is good and bad; so keep that in mind.

This is not my notes about the MySQL conference that just occurred. These are my thoughts about MySQL conferences in general. Baron wrote in The History of OpenSQL Camp:

After O’Reilly/MySQL co-hosted MySQL Conference and Expo (a large commercial event) that year, there was a bit of dissatisfaction amongst a few people about the increasingly commercial and marketing-oriented nature of that conference. Some people refused to call the conference by its new name (Conference and Expo) and wanted to put pressure on MySQL to keep it a MySQL User’s Conference.

During this year’s conference, I heard a lot of concern about whether or not O’Reilly would have a MySQL conference, and whether or not Oracle would decide to sponsor. I heard all of the following (in no particular order):

* If O’Reilly does not have a conference, what will we do?
* Maybe [http://www.opensqlcamp.org OpenSQLCamp] can be bigger instead of having an O’Reilly conference, because the O’Reilly conference is more commercial.
* If Oracle does not sponsor the O’Reilly conference, it means they don’t care about MySQL/the MySQL community.
* If Oracle sponsors the O’Reilly conference, they’ll ruin it by making it even more commercial.
* Oracle shouldn’t sponsor the O’Reilly conference, they should make a different technical conference, in a different hotel/location and bigger (6,000 people instead of 2,000).
* Oracle shouldn’t make their own technical conference for MySQL, they should let user groups get together and then sponsor it, like they do with Collaborate.

Obviously there are mixed messages here — I don’t see any clear directive from the community. Plenty of people have a strong opinion. What I do see happening is that there will probably be plenty of options:

I know that OpenSQLCamp is not dead — there will be 2 this year, check the website for details.

I also know know that there will be a *real* MySQL track at Oracle OpenWorld — there was a rumor that the number of sessions would be fewer than 5, but sources on the inside have said that will not be the case.

I also know that we will hear from O’Reilly in the next few months about next year’s MySQL conference.

So, regardless of what happens, the nay-sayers will say how awful it is, and the pollyannas will say how great it is. There are plenty of reasons that each scenario is good and bad; so keep that in mind.