Seems like the big guys could be getting in a little trouble for violating patents. Among them, AOL, Amazon, Borders, Google, IAC (ASK), and Yahoo have all been accused.

The charges from this IP-related company that stem from a patent infringement make notes about the violating parties implementing systems that 'comprise interpreting electronic messages with rule base and case base knowledge engines'. Whatever that means. The claim does outlay the method as well as steps involved for receiving an electronic message and interpreting the electronic message. We all know this is most likely an effort by said plaintiff to get a little green in their pockets the filthy lawyer way. Especially when the company involved, as well as a slew of other IP-related companies, are associated with the same attorney. And it also just so happens that the same company suing the above companies, has also filed patent lawsuits with Oracle and Sirius Satellite Radio. Some people have guesstimated the settlement amount to be in upwards up six and seven figures.

Like many web developers, I use MySQL constantly. Sure I can just use the command line, but it is faster to use some kind of graphical client with a decent UI. There are many out there, but my favorite for a while was MySQL's own MySQL Control Center (which has now been discontinued for a while). The replacement for Control Center is Administrator, and I am just not a big fan of it. I loved Control Center because it allowed query browsing and database management, and you'd be hard-pressed to find both features in Administrator which is why I don't like it as much. There are third-party alternatives as well, many of which are not free, which is a sticking point for me? Why, because I am cheap. I currently use (and love) SQLyog community edition (free and full-featured).

Oracle also has a SQL development client, called SQL Developer (oddly enough). They just upgraded it in fact. Now it does easy import and export data in many popular formats. Not retyping all that data, priceless. Oracle's client will manage MySQL, SQL, and Oracle databases, which is rare to find a free tool that handles all three.

I will stick to SQLyog for my database management needs however, since Oracle's java-based solution needs to be configured to work with MySQL's JDBC drivers apparently. Often I don't have the time to install third party drivers, and configure them, that is what a client should be responsible for. Ease of use, and dummy-proofing your app, even more priceless.

And now, as the kids say, for something completely different. Really, really, different. What do you get when you combine a bunch of mega-tech-CEOs (Michael Dell, EMC's Joe Tucci, Oracle's Larry Ellison, AMD's Hector Ruiz and Intel's Paul Otellini), JibJab-style animation, musical theatre and possibly Quaaludes? Dell: The Journey. I don't know what it is, or who thought it was just the good idea Dell needed, or whether it's the best thing ever or the worst, but I do know that you need to watch this. I don't want to spoil it or anything, but "Let's go kick some proprietary ass" is one quote I'm unlikely to forget any time soon.

[Thanks (I think), Matt!]

The AlwaysOn Summit at Stanford University wraps up today, but not before making a declaration of something many LAMP developers have known for a long time.

The "AlwaysOn 100" honors 100 private companies for their technical innovation, customer adoption and market potential. This year's 100 innovators are comprised of a majority of companies that share one common characteristic, they all use MySQL in mission critical portions of the enterprise.

"When Joe Kraus launched the Excite search service in the early days of "Web 1.0", he estimated it cost around $3m to get the business up-and-running. Today, after founding JotSpot, Kraus estimates a Web 2.0 company can start up with an investment of around $100,000 (£50,000)"

[via Sourcewire]

Google recently joined the Open Document Alliance. Google recently launched Google Spreadsheets, and purchased the online word processor, Writely, made the move to support the alliance in the development of the open document industry.

The Open Document Alliance is a relatively new organization that launched March of 2006. Its goal is to help the move from paper to electronic. Promoting and enhancing the use of the OpenDocument Format (ODF).

The Alliance's current members include:

• Corel
• Google Inc
• IBM
• Novell
• Oracle
• Red Hat Inc
• Sun Microsystems Inc

In another move in the Open Doc world, Microsoft announced support for the ODF extension with plug-in translators with their office applications.

According to CNet, MySQL's Marten Mickos has confirmed that enterprise database vendor Oracle made a bid for the open source heavy-hitter, but was turned down. This news comes on the heels of yesterdays' report that Oracle is acquiring Sleepycat Software, makers of the open source Berkeley DB. No details of Oracle's offer have been disclosed, but Mickos says MySQL turned down the juggernaut's offer because the company wishes to maintain its independence.

[Via Slashdot]

Following rumors that it was shopping around for open source companies, database juggernaut Oracle has acquired Sleepycat Software, makers of the open source Berkeley DB. Berkeley DB is included in a number of open source products including many Linux distributions and OpenOffice.org. Last week Oracle was also rumored to have its eye on JBoss and PHP mother company Zend Technologies. The terms of the deal, and what it means for the future of Berkeley DB, are unknown.