Re: Renaming MySQL to MaxSQL
I guess I understand that it might be desirable to create a
distinctive identity for the product, given that it's intended to go
beyond what MySQL has thus far provided. However, after spending a
few years establishing name identity for MySQL, why change the name
now? I wonder about the motivation for (and the wisdom of) renaming
MySQL to MaxSQL and am curious what this is intended to achieve.
I'm not sure how to think about this renaming, and I'm also not clear
what the implications of the renaming are, although I have a few
thoughts:
- It means that when you say "MaxSQL", you have to qualify that with
"you know, the database that used to be called MySQL".
- When you say "MySQL", you have to qualify that with "you know, the
database that now is called MaxSQL".
- For all previous written material about MySQL, it makes it
confusing what that material refers to.
- Are the existing programs going to be renamed? For example, are
mysqld and mysqladmin now going to be called maxsqld and maxsqladmin?
If not, then there appears to be a dichotomy between the "brand" name
of the product MaxSQL and the programs associated with it. If the
programs are renamed, existing scripts that refer to the old names
will either break (bad), or have to be rewritten (also bad) or else
the programs will have to exist under the new names with links to
them under the old names (arguably bad, as this clutters up program
directories needlessly and constitutes command namespace pollution)
- What about client API functions? Are they going to be renamed from
mysql_xxx() to maxsql_xxx()? If not, then again there is a dichotomy
between the "brand" name of the product and the names used in the
code that implements the product.
- It makes it hard to write about MySQL/MaxSQL in the future. How do
you refer to it and make it clear when something you write refers to
both MySQL and MaxSQL? It's also not so good that now when you want
to refer users to written documentation, you'll have to refer people
to books of which *none* now has the name of the product in the title.
In short, I'm thinking that this renaming causes a massive headache
for all the people who have built up programs or documentation around
MySQL because it all becomes inaccurate and has to be changed to be
accurate once again.
Remember the recent problems introduced by reorganizing the MySQL Web
site? That at least was something for which you could straighten out
problems as they were reported, because the Web site is under the
control of the MySQL organization. Renaming MySQL to MaxSQL will, I
suspect, cause a lot of questions about things you _can't_ control -
external programs and documentation which goes out of sync with the
official distribution.
It looks to me like the renaming will cause more problems than benefits?
A minor point:
How is the new name pronounced, anyway? Max-sequel, or Max-S-Q-L?
--
Paul DuBois, paul@stripped
