MySQL Magazine is dead.. long live Open Source Database Magazine!

Hello everyone,

I began MySQL Magazine in the early summer of 2007. It was began, not as a lark, but without any idea that it would ever become so popular. It was just a way I thought I could contribute to the MySQL community. Over time it has grown very well with recent issues being downloaded around 10,000 times directly from the website. I have no way of counting other downloads although I know issues are posted in multiple other locations.

I have been debating for about six months on changing things up a bit. As I said in my last post, change for the sake of change is almost never good. This isn’t change just for change’s sake.   I am convinced that enlarging the old MySQL Magazine to include any open source db will be beneficial to everyone. More content and an exchange of knowledge across “cultures” so to speak.  The last several years have seen the rise of various databases that fit the needs of cloud and large-scale computing such as Hadoop. Even more recently, the Drizzle project has gained quite a bit of steam. PostgreSQL has been around since roughly the time period of the cooling of the earth’s crust and has a devoted fan base (and a great product in the appropriate place I might add!!). The list could continue but I would like to keep this blog post a reasonable length.

I plan on writing about both Drizzle and PostgreSQL in addition to my normal MySQL fare. While my knowledge of  either of those systems is minimal at best, they are areas of interest to me and there is always a need for articles targeted at noobs like me who need introductory material. I can at least supply that!

I would point out that exchanging knowledge, as I termed it earlier,  is not mudslinging. I invite comparisons between systems (where appropriate) but if a comparison is not backed up by performance data or supportable by facts it will not be published. Not looking for flame wars, I am looking for a place where developers and administrators can go to learn more about all open source databases. Hope that makes sense!

Articles for the new magazine can be about any of these previously mentioned and any other database that operates under an open source license. MySQL Magazine had been running roughly 20 – 25 pages in size over the last three or four issues of the magazine. I would like to increase the size to around 30-35 pages if possible. I always encourage articles about the administration side of the server as well as the coding side of the server.

I will be using Scribus to build the magazine. It allows decent control over layout, reasonable pdf output and is a fine open source project in its own right. Submissions can be pdf, Open Office or MS Office. As with MySQL Magazine, as long as I have advertisers, if article authors have access to a paypal account I pay $50 an article (plus all the fame you can handle ).

So, if you administer or develop for an open source database, now is the time to step up. I will be publishing the first issue on July the 15th which means all finalized versions of articles must submitted by July the 7th.

The new magazine will reside @ osdbzine.net.  I just registered the domain so it will take some time for it to propagate through the ‘net. Right now there is only a placeholder for the site.  I will build up some content between now and July the 15th.

Have an idea for an article? Email me at bmurphy AT paragon-cs.net. No need to send a full-length article. Just a brief 50 – 100 word outline of what you are proposing. And don’t be scared. If I recall correctly, I have never turned anyone down. Looking forward to hearing from everyone.

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