The Next Wave

Monday February 09, 2009

Monty Widenius

Last week, we (Sun and MySQL) said goodbye to one of the icons of open source, the main author and one of the founding members of MySQL, Michael (Monty) Widenius.

As he put forth in his blog Monty Says, Monty has moved on, and joined a company he founded (Monty Program AB). His stated goals ? To continue working on his Maria storage engine project, to actively work within the MySQL Community and interestingly enough open a restaurant (which even though I'm not a database developer, I still hope I get the discount he offers).

Working with Monty was an experience I will always remember. His passion about community, about open source and about MySQL was palpable. For anyone who knows him or had the chance to work with him, you'll also know that discussion about those topics frequently were lively and sometimes at odds with the established plans or directions. He loves to challenge assumptions and did so with vigor -- and whether his position was correct or not, whether he won the argument or not -- some of the value really wasn't in the end result anyway ... it was the journey, from which new insights and ideas would frequently spring to life.

I wish him well in his endeavors, and look forward to the day our paths cross again.