maria-discuss team mailing list archive

[Bruce Carlson <Bruce.Carlson@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Hello Rasmus,

There is only one excuse for doing this and that is to allow you to specifically direct your advertising at me and I object to that.

I do not want to live in a world where everything I read or am informed of is decided by you or anybody else.
I want to be able to decide what advertising I access, not have some self opinionated organisation decide what information I’m fed. No matter how good that organisation’s product is or isn’t.
By doing this you are no better than Microsoft or Google.

Whilst the ability to contribute to and to have a bit of an input into the direction of software development is a big attraction for open source it is the openness of open source that has provided the majority of the successes enjoyed by open source and the reason why many around the world such as myself have made the move from MS-SQL, Oracle, Sybase and MySQL, since taken over by Oracle, Etc… Etc…

MariaDB is a wonderful product and definitely one of the best databases in the world but by joining in on the wrong side of the specifically directed advertising war currently being perpetrated by the software giants you have removed all reasons for choosing MariaDB over the alternative options.

Just think about this …. If I had allowed myself to become restricted to advertising from Oracle I would never have heard about MariaDB in the first place.

I am involved with and contribute to a number of open source communities around the world but this is the only time I’ve been asked to sign up with a “Google” account.
The millions of people around the world involved in open source communities have two things in common.
                1.            A willingness to share and develop new ideas.
                2.            A desire to protect our right to freedom of thought.

To you, insisting on a Google or Google style “Account” before allowing downloads is a trivial, insignificant thing that you expect the majority of the world to blindly accept but to me it’s rude arrogance and a monumental and unacceptable invasion of my personal freedom. Not because you’re asking me to provide personal information but because of what you intend doing with that information.
You have destroyed the entire concept of open source.

It is entirely possible that I am the only person on the planet to think like this.     ------  But I doubt it.

Regards,
Bruce Carlson




From: Rasmus Johansson [mailto:rasmus@xxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Thursday, 17 September 2015 6:39 AM
To: Bruce Carlson
Cc: Maria Discuss (maria-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx)
Subject: Re: [Maria-discuss] ODBC.NET DOWNLOAD

Hi Bruce,

It's an important aspect you bring up. I'm afraid however that having the binaries behind login is a conscious decision.

All connector source code is of course open and available on Github and everyone is more than welcome to participate in the development of them. The main organization currently behind the connectors is MariaDB Corporation, meaning that most of the development, building, testing and packaging for the various platforms happens there.

To be able to develop, for example, the connectors further, the company needs to somehow be able to reach potential users and even in some cases create some business around them. That is the main reason for requiring free registration. I hope it's not a huge problem and I think it's a fairly common practice for open source companies nowadays.

Nothing has however changed regarding licensing of the connectors. They are still LGPL.

Best regards,
Rasmus


--

Rasmus Johansson, VP Engineering
MariaDB | t: +358 50 499 9589<tel:%2B358%2050%20499%209589> | Skype: ratzpo

On Wed, Sep 16, 2015 at 10:00 AM, Bruce Carlson <Bruce.Carlson@xxxxxxxxxx<mailto:Bruce.Carlson@xxxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
Hi,

I’m trying to download the latest stable version of the MariaDB .net ODBC install MSI but every time I try I get directed to a log in page where I can’t get any further unless I create some sort of personal information divulgence account.

I have never had to do this before with any open source software.

Where can I go to download the MSI without having to create an account that I have no intentions of ever doing.

I have been using MySQL ever since the early days of version 3 something and have been using MariaDB ever since inception after the split with MySQL.

I’m a dedicated and heavy user and supporter of MariaDB and have been for decades.

If I am no longer able to download updates etc. without having to create some sort of GOOGLE account then I will not use MariaDB, I will find an alternative.

Please advise.

Bruce Carlson




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