Michael Widenius

Ulf Michael Widenius

David Axmark (left) and Michael "Monty" Widenius, 2003
Born (1962-03-03) March 3, 1962
Helsinki, Finland
Other names Monty
Occupation Co-Founder of MySQL AB
Author of the MySQL Server and MariaDB fork
Website monty-says.blogspot.com

Ulf Michael Widenius (often called Monty; born 3 March 1962, in Helsinki, Finland) is the main author of the original version of the open source MySQL database, a founding member of the MySQL AB company and is currently CTO of the MariaDB Corporation Ab.

Biography

Early years

After dropping out of Helsinki University of Technology, Widenius started working for Tapio Laakso Oy in 1981. In 1985 he founded TCX DataKonsult AB (a Swedish data warehousing company) with Allan Larsson.[1] In 1995 he began writing the first version of the MySQL database with David Axmark, released in 1996. He is the co-author of the MySQL Reference Manual, published by O'Reilly in June 2002; and in 2003 he was awarded the Finnish Software Entrepreneur of The Year prize.

Until MySQL AB's sale to Sun Microsystems in 2008,[2] he was the chief technical officer of MySQL AB and still one of the primary forces behind the ongoing development of MySQL.[3]

MySQL sold to Sun

Widenius sold MySQL to Sun in January 2008, earning about €16.6 million in capital gains in 2008 (€16.8 million total income), making the top 10 of highest earners in Finland that year.[4][5]

After Sun

On 5 February 2009, he announced that he was leaving Sun in order to create his own company.[6]

On 12 December 2009, Monty asked MySQL customers to lobby the European Commission (EC), regarding Oracle's acquisition of Sun, citing concerns about potential Oracle control of MySQL;[7] this resulted in an online petition campaign called "Save MySQL".[8]

After leaving Sun, he formed Monty Program AB and forked MySQL into MariaDB, named after his youngest daughter, Maria.[9] It includes several patches and plugins developed by the company itself or the community. One of these plugins is Aria storage engine, which was renamed from Maria to avoid confusion with MariaDB. Monty Program AB merged with SkySQL, who later renamed themselves MariaDB Corporation. He is also CTO of the MariaDB Foundation, the non-profit organisation charged with promoting, protecting and advancing the MariaDB codebase, community, and ecosystem.[10]

The Open Database Alliance, also known as ODBA,[11] was founded in 2009 by the Monty Program and Percona. According to its first announcement, "the Open Database Alliance will comprise a collection of companies working together to provide the software, support and services for MariaDB, an enterprise-grade, community-developed branch of MySQL".[12][13]

Personal life

He lives in Helsinki with his second wife Anna and daughter Maria (after whom MariaDB was named), and has a daughter My (after whom MySQL was named)[14] and a son Max (giving the name for MaxDB) from his first marriage.

References

  1. ↑ "Management Team". The company. MySQL AB. Archived from the original on 23 February 2008. Retrieved 2008-01-10.
  2. ↑ "Sun to Acquire MySQL". News & events. MySQL AB. Retrieved 2008-09-05.
  3. ↑ Arnö, Kaj (Apr 2007). "Monty: The First MySQL Fellow". Kaj Arnö. Retrieved 2012-10-23.
  4. ↑ "Suomen 100 suurituloisinta 2008". Ilta-Sanomat (in Finnish). FI. 2009-11-02. Retrieved 2009-11-06.
  5. ↑ "Verotiedot 2008". Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish). Helsinki, FI. Retrieved 2009-11-06.
  6. ↑ "Time to move on". Monty's blog. Retrieved 2009-02-05.
  7. ↑ "Help saving MySQL". Monty's blog. Retrieved 2009-12-12.
  8. ↑ Michael, Widenius (12 December 2009). "Help saving MySQL". Monty Says. Google. Retrieved 16 September 2012.
  9. ↑ "Why is the project called MariaDB?". AskMonty (knowledgebase). Retrieved 2013-02-07.
  10. ↑ "Leadership". mariadb.com. Retrieved 8 December 2014.
  11. ↑ ODBA (official World Wide Web site), Open database alliance.
  12. ↑ "Welcome". Open Database Alliance. Retrieved 2012-10-18.
  13. ↑ "About the MariaDB Foundation". mariadb.org. Retrieved 8 December 2014.
  14. ↑ "History of MySQL". MySQL (Reference Manual) (5.1 ed.). MySQL. Retrieved 26 August 2011.
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