Monthly Archives: October 2009

DynamoBI: website? bits?

1 Reply

Well, what a soft launch it has been. 🙂

Some people have asked:

When are you going to get a website? Errr…. Soon! We soft launched a bit early, due to some “leaking information” but figured heck, it’s open source let’s let it all out. Soon enough, I swear!

Where can I download DynamoDB? Errr… you can’t yet cause we haven’t finished our build/QA/certification process.

However, since DynamoDB is the alter ego business suit wearing brother of LucidDB, just download the 0.9.2 release if you want to get a sense of what DynamoDB is.

There are 3 built binaries (Linux 32, Linux 64, and Windows 32): http://sourceforge.net/projects/luciddb/files/luciddb/luciddb-0.9.2/ and you can find installation instructions here.

DynamoDB will have the same core database, etc. So, from a raw feature/function perspective what you download and see with LucidDB will be what you get in DynamoDB. DynamoDB will have an administration UI to make things like setting up foreign servers, managing users, etc easier. And lots of other cool new features on the longer term roadmap, which if when we get a website would be a great place for that to go!

Until then, use the open source project, LucidDB. I think you’ll like it!

LucidDB: DynamoBI is running with it

11 Replies

I can think of no better analogy than that of a multi leg race. You know, the races where one sprinter runs as fast as they can, before passing the baton to the next sprinter.

200910240932

First it was Broadbase.
Second it was LucidEra.
Third it was Eigenbase / LucidEra / SQLstream (joint development w/ Eigenbase).

Having purchased commercial rights from LucidEra it’s ours to run with now, alongside Eigenbase and SQLstream.

LucidDB has been described as the “best database no one ever told you about.” That stops today (the telling part, not the best part). Dynamo Business Intelligence Corp will take this great technology to a wider audience and we’ll be telling EVERYONE about it!

Over time, the exceptional features of this open source project will come to light (column store, bit map idxs, drop in java based user plugins, transparent remote JDBC data access, etc). I think it is important to acknowledge how LucidDB arrived to where it is today.

LucidDB is built by smart smart people (people wayyyy smarter than me!). People who’ve written parallel execution engines in Oracle. People who’ve developed Bitmap IDX implementations and helped file those patents. The heritage of LucidDB starts at Broadbase; LucidEra purchased it and brought it to Eigenbase. Eigenbase, and it’s sponsoring companies, have most claim to its current state. Their stewardship and ongoing evolution of the project is a testament to their talents and commitment to open source development. When you pick up LucidDB/DynamoDB and get your first “Ahhhh Cool! 10x Faster than my current database” you have LucidEra/SQLstream/Eigenbase devs to thank. John V. Sichi (lead and main project sponsor), Tai Tran, Julian Hyde, Rushan Chen, Zelaine Fong, Sunny Choi, Steve, Marc, Richard, Hunter, Edan, Damian, Boris, Benny, Stephan, Oscar, …. and the list goes on and on and on. Some of these people will be helping (in small and big ways) with the new company which is great for customers knowing that the people that wrote this stuff will be helping them be successful!

What’s the plan?

  • Open Source.
    Lots of it. Any readers of this blog, or who know me in general, will know I’m a “burn the boats,” open source kind of guy. We’ll be creating some new projects to make using the features/functions already in LucidDB easier. We’ll also be adding new features, which will make their way back into the LucidDB mainline.
  • Commercial in Name Only.
    Mainline DBMS enhancements and development continue, and will continue to be, in LucidDB (Eigenbase). New projects will be available under an OSI approved license. DynamoDB is the prepackaged, assembled, UI included distribution built for customers/evaluators that we’ll offer support on. Should be as easy as we can possibly make it to evaluate, purchase, and use.
  • In Progress.
    We’ve let the announcement ahead of having our website built, or having completed our own DynamoDB QA’ed build. Our open source roots guide us to an “early and often” approach and we’re taking that approach here. Be patient with us as we roll out the business bit by bit over the next few months. Our #1 priority: establish our support/build/qa infrastructure and get an already great piece of software into hands of people who can benefit from it. Hint: If you’ve ever done a star schema on MySQL you need to talk to us!

One thing I am personally looking forward to is getting to work even more extensively with everyone involved at Eigenbase, including the very talented devs at SQLstream (who produce the best real time analytics/integration engine available).

Feel free to join up in taking LucidDB to a whole new level: Download LucidDB and give it a go yourself, since we just released a new version (0.9.2) yesterday! I believe, like others have already mentioned, adding a bit of commercial support behind an already great piece of software is a winning combination!

Drop a line on through to me if you’re interested in getting involved early on (as a charter customer, developer, user, etc). ngoodman at bayontechnologies (with the .COM).

What if Hot Dog vendors sold you Power Tools?

15 Replies

Well, since it’s been topical, and I can never resist an urge to discuss open source licensing…

What do you buy from a Hot Dog Vendor? Hot Dogs, duh!

What do you buy from an Office Supplies Vendor? Office Supplies, duh!

What do you buy from (most) Open Source Vendors? Proprietary Software, … huh?

Let’s do this another way…

What do you get if you buy Yellow Products? Products that are Yellow, duh.

What do you get if you buy Enterprise Software Products? Products that are fit for use by Enterprises, duh!

What do you get if you buy (most) Open Source Products? A proprietary product built on an open source project, … huh?

If you want to be called a “insert term here” vendor should sell “insert term here.” Otherwise you aren’t really “vending” it, you’re just using it as part of a strategy, marketing, development method, etc. Which, in my opinion, is what open source is: A way to develop and distribute software, not what you are selling. Very few of the open source companies actually sell an “Open Source Product.” They sell a proprietary one and services built on top of a great open source project, aka Open Core.

Most “Open Core” companies should simply be defined as “Software Companies with exceptional Open Source development models.” You can not purchase an “open source product” from an Open Core company. You can purchase their proprietary product on top of the open source project, but there is no product you can buy that is “open source” from most Open Core companies.

See the difference? Product and Project are not the interchangable. Vendor and “Model/Company” are not interchangable.

Don’t get me wrong – I’m no enemy of Pentaho by any means; quite the opposite. Just last week I wholeheartedly recommended to a customer they renew their EE subscription based ONLY on the new Pentaho Analyzer (which is GREAT, btw)!  It doesn’t negate the value they sell to customers, Open Core companies still deliver exceptional value.  I don’t call in to question the validity of the Open Core model and it’s mutual benefit for those involved (as James points out consistently in his BeeKeeper).

Open Core Companies just shouldn’t be surprised when people experience cognitive dissonance when they buy a proprietary product without an open source license from an “open source vendor.”