The Register® — Biting the hand that feeds IT

Feeds

Axmark quits Sun cos he 'hates' working for the man

'Rules suck', says MySQL co-founder

Agentless Backup is Not a Myth

David Axmark, co-founder of MySQL, has quit Sun Microsystems because he “hates” all the rules he has to follow at the company.

“I have thought about my role at Sun and decided that I am better off in smaller organisations,” wrote Axmark in his resignation letter, according to a blog post from Sun flack Kaj Arnö.

“I HATE all the rules that I need to follow, and I also HATE breaking them. It would be far better for me to ‘retire’ from employment and work with MySQL and Sun on a less formal basis.”

Sun acquired MySQL in January when it bought the open source database developer for $1bn.

Axmark co-founded MySQL with Michael "Monty" Widenius, who set tongues wagging in September when reports suggested he was mulling his future with the firm.

Monty – the primary architect of the original MySQL database – has spent the past "several years" contemplating a move that would allow him to concentrate on engineering the MySQL server, according to a previous blog post from Arnö.

Axmark’s decision to quit the company will come as a huge blow to Sun, which in August lost the longtime head of MySQL's Japan business, Larry Stefonic, after five years with the outfit.

The boats: a comparisonSome might conclude that the continued exodus of key MySQL players could suggest that all is not well at Sun HQ. Arnö, however, is doing his face-saving best to accentuate the positives about Axmark’s decision to walk.

“I wish David would have stayed longer at Sun, but I understand why he decided to resign and I respect his decision.

"I’m happy he’s fine with working as a consultant for Sun, doing speaking engagements and connecting us with his huge network. It’s very much appreciated,” said Arnö, who also pointed out that Larry Ellison’s boat is bigger than Axmark’s.

We’ll leave you to work out what that all means. ®

Regcast training : Hyper-V 3.0, VM high availability and disaster recovery

Latest Comments
Anonymous Coward

Sun is a good place!

Kelly, I don't hate working for Sun.

I love that Sun is betting on Open Source for its main revenue, not

just as a side show (even if they have more work to do).

And I actually liked Sun enough to try to work in such a large

company, in spite of my hatred of bureaucracy needed in *all* large

organizations.

/David Axmark

0
0

@Anonymous Coward

I worked at Sun for over a decade and left this summer: in my opinion engineering leads the company and the company is very much aware of Linux (have you been following OpenSolaris?).

0
0

@David Kelly

After Big Company buys Small Company - Small Company no longer has "a way". If that's not OK then don't sell. If you take the money you've got to do what they say.

0
0

More from The Register

SCO vs. IBM battle resumes over ownership of Unix
Zombie lawsuit back and wants to suck the brains out of Linux
Bjarne Again: Hallelujah for C++
Plus: Now officially OK to admit you never used STL algorithms
Interwebs taunt Sir Jony over Apple eye candy makeover
Hey Ive, Ive... add more unicorns, willya?
Apple: iOS7 dayglo Barbie makeover is UNFINISHED - report
Plus: You don't like the icons? Blame marketing
Red Hat to ditch MySQL for MariaDB in RHEL 7
So long, Oracle! Don't let the door hit you on the way out
Shy? Socially inadequate? Fiddling with your phone could help
App 'tells the brutal truth' about social inadequates' chatup lines
Java EE 7 melds HTML5 with enterprise apps
New release arrives with GlassFish, NetBeans support
 breaking news
'Office Facebook' firm Tibbr wants you to PAY for mobe-meetings app
Great idea. Punters won't cough for it though
 breaking news
The only Waze is Google: Ad giant tipped to gobble map app 'for $1.3bn'
Pac-Man-satnav-ish upstart in bidding war with Apple, Facebook
 breaking news
PM Cameron calls for modern, programmable computers! (We think)
IT education musings to G8 chiefs to mystify IT industry