|
Letter from the CEO
08 Feb 2002
Dear MySQL users, customers and partners,
On behalf of the whole MySQL team, I would like to thank you for a great
2001 and wish you and your partners all the best for 2002.
Last year was a year of change and growth for MySQL AB. We brought our
operations into one parent company in Sweden - MySQL AB - and received a
first round of investment from leading Scandinavian venture capitalists.
This let us build a management team and the internal processes that are
needed to scale the business. We also learned to promote, police and defend
our trademark and the immeasurable value of our intellectual property.
Our core development team, which nearly doubled in number over the past
year, produced version 4.0 and is now busy adding new important features to
MySQL. In the second half of the year, we launched our partner program,
training curriculum and several other services to further support the MySQL
community.
We also saw sales of commercial licenses for embedded, heavy-duty use of
MySQL in software and hardware increase rapidly in 2001. We signed
licensing deals with some of the foremost software vendors and telecom or
networking companies in the world, and we expect this trend to continue.
MySQL is also increasingly being used in mission-critical applications in
large enterprises.
What is it, then, that makes MySQL so unique? First and foremost, it's our
incredible user community. Through the support and enthusiasm of over three
million highly active users, MySQL has rapidly evolved into a database
unmatched in speed, stability, versatility and ease of use. MySQL AB is, as
always, fully committed to the open source philosophy of "available and
affordable for all", and the strength of our product is clear proof of the
success of this philosophy and the power of community.
I hope all of you can sense the pride and commitment we feel at MySQL AB!
The software that MySQL's founders, Monty Widenius and David Axmark, created
in the mid-90's has grown up to be a significant part of the every-day
business of companies and organizations around the world. At MySQL AB, we
are dedicated to supporting this growth while maintaining our core values
and open source philosophy.
I am personally extremely grateful to have been given the task to lead the
MySQL company. I look forward to continuing to work with you in this
fantastic business, and I wish you all the best for 2002.
Mårten Mickos
CEO, MySQL AB
|
