[clue-tech] Free ? Oracle database for Linux

[Gus Salavatore Calabrese]

Oracle intends to release a free version of its database, a reaction  
to the growing competitive pressure from low-end open-source databases.

The database heavyweight on Tuesday is expected to announce the beta  
release of Oracle 10g Express Edition (Oracle Database XE), which  
will be generally available by the end of the year. It is targeted at  
students, small organizations and software vendors that could embed  
the Oracle database with an application.

The latest edition is the same as other databases in Oracle's lineup  
but is limited in usage. It can only run servers with one processor,  
with 4GB of disk space and 1GB of memory. Oracle on Friday offered a  
beta version of the new database for Windows and Linux on its Oracle  
Technology Network Web site.

The new low-end edition is aimed squarely at free and open-source  
alternatives to Oracle's namesake database, said Andrew Mendelsohn,  
senior vice president of Oracle's server technologies division.

"There is definitely a market there (for low-end databases) and a  
demand. And we want them to be using Oracle and not MySQL or SQL  
Server Express," Mendelsohn said. "It's definitely a reaction to the  
market interest."

About a year and a half ago, Oracle introduced Oracle 10g Standard  
Edition One, a version aimed at mid-size companies where Microsoft  
has many customers. That database is limited to two processors and  
cost $149 per user.

By introducing a free entry-level product, Oracle intends to get more  
developers and students familiar with its namesake database,  
Mendelsohn said. Those customers, Oracle hopes, will eventually  
upgrade to a higher-end version.

"Even though the database is initially free, standards progress and  
those university students who are playing with the database today  
will eventually be working at corporations and making product  
decisions," he said. "We want to have mind-share with those people."

The Express Edition database can be distributed with other products.  
It will be available through Oracle's developer network and include a  
Web-based administration console development tools.

Separately, Mendelsohn offered comments on what Oracle intends to do  
with InnoDB, a storage engine for the MySQL database that Oracle  
acquired earlier this month.
He said Oracle intends to extend a contract with MySQL where the  
InnoDB storage engine is packaged with MySQL.
"There are all kinds of possibilities we're exploring," Mendelsohn  
said. "You might be seeing it showing up in Oracle products." 

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