Oracle-Sun union is strongly opposed by MySQL founder

Oracle’s $7.4 billion acquisition of Sun Microsystems, in the works since last spring, cleared a major hurdle Thursday, finally winning the approval of European Union regulators. The European Commission had some lingering concerns, particularly about the fate of MySQL, a popular open-source database acquired by Sun in 2008. But after looking at the database market and noting Oracle’s pledge to preserve and nurture the program, the EC gave the OK. While the news was favorable, Oracle may still run into some obstructions on the way to the finish line. The founder of MySQL, Michael "Monty" Widenius, remains strongly opposed to the deal, and as antitrust lawyer Paul McGeown said, “Vocal complainants during the process are potential litigants.” Florian Mueller, a spokesman for Monty Widenius, called the EC decision wrong. “It’s not based on hard facts. … It should not serve as the basis for decisions taken by other regulators because it would set an awful precedent for merger control in connection with open source and a variety of other IT business models.” To read more see Good Morning Silicon Valley blog.