Michael ?Monty" Widenius, The founder of MySQL
Michael ?Monty" Widenius, the Finnish founder of the open-source database development company MySQL, was awarded the 2003 Software Entrepreneur of The Year prize. The award was well earned. By double-licensing its software, MySQL has managed to create an extraordinary business model and is currently the largest open source software company in the world.
The MySQL software has over six million users, and the company registers more than 40,000 downloads a day. What makes MySQL such a success?
?We had the courage to try to create something new, and we succeeded. We were ahead of our time - a lot of other companies are only now contemplating this type of business. We're exceptional in the sense that our operations are dispersed all over the world. R&D is based in Finland and sales are based in the US. The majority of our coders all around the world work from home, just like I do."
You still like to spend your working day coding; why is that?
?It's both a lifestyle and a hobby. I want to remain a competent coder, especially since the number of old-time coders, who actually know how the computer executes code, is diminishing. The people fresh out of university are only familiar with the new programming tools with which they write the code. I also want to train other programmers in the company to produce high quality, efficient code."
How do you see the future of the software industry in ten years' time? What will be the status of the open source concept?
?It depends entirely on the European Parliament's decision on software patents. If the directive allowing software patents is passed, it means that all US patents - and there are a lot of them - will come into force in the EU. This would give companies with a lot of patents the tools to finish off open source if they so desire. But if a reasonable conclusion is reached in the patent issue, I believe that open source will go from strength to strength. It is especially well suited to public administration thanks to its low cost, adaptability, and ease of changing the language used."
What about your own plans for the future, are you still motivated to program after 20 years?
?I plan to continue for another 20 years. Programming is an interesting field, the equipment keeps developing, and you face new challenges every day."
WHO:
Career milestones:
1978 - bought first computer; spent a lot of time learning everything about it and writing games to impress friends.
1981 - whilst working for Tapio Laakso Inc. realised the demand for DBMS.
1982 - started working with Allan Larson (future MySQL co-founder). After some years we founded a company, TCX DataKonsult Inc. which worked mainly on data warehousing.
1995 - Started working on MySQL together with David Axmark (another co-founder and long time friend). This was released to the public at the end of 1996.
2001 - Secured funding for MySQL Inc. and hired a CEO, CFO, and all the other boring people who don't do any REAL work (i.e. development).
Education: Studied at the Finnish University of Technology in Helsinki (never completed studies due to work commitments).
Career high point so far: Still looking forward to it.
Role models: I prefer to think of them as people who inspire me: Linus Torvalds and Richard Stallman.
Motto: Be fair in everything you do.
Favourite hobby: cooking
Favourite toy: computer
Editor: Petja Partanen