MySQL AB, NuSphere meet, agree to meet again

Formerly warring MySQL companies MySQL AB and NuSphere met Friday and agreed to meet some more.

During a phone-in meeting, characterized by NuSphere representatives as “cordial and
low-key,” the two sides “exchanged information and opinions,” says Britt Johnston, CTO for NuSphere. Johnston’s company will propose a time for the next meeting, perhaps at O’Reilly’s Open Source Convention in San Diego this week.

The two companies posted a sentence-long joint statement to the mysql mailing list Friday.

Reactions on the mailing list ranged from “we don’t want to know” to encouragement about the cease-fire.

Wrote one list member: “Since these issues are between two private companies, please take your discussions off this list. It is none of our business. By all means, tell us the result.”

But another said: “Thanks for the update. The neutral tone and lack of result make it sound like you had a ‘frank exchange of views’.”

The two companies’ business dispute, complete with competing lawsuits, came to public light a couple of weeks ago, when MySQL AB sent out a press release condemning NuSphere’s launch of MySQL.org. MySQL AB, owners of MySQL.com, said it had terminated an agreement allowing NuSphere to use the MySQL brand.