Sebastopol, CA--A few years ago, many would have laughed at the notion
of Oracle Corporation not only tolerating open source software, but
incorporating it into their own product lines. Today, the Oracle8i
database has been ported to Linux, the open source Apache Jserv web
server is a vital part of Oracle's Internet Application Server (iAS),
and hundreds of applications are now available linking open source
programs to Oracle databases and providing new tools for Oracle
database administrators and developers.
The just-released Oracle & Open Source:
Tools and Application (Duncan
and Hull, O'Reilly, US $39.95) is the first book to tie together the
commercial world of Oracle and the free-wheeling world of open source
software. It describes nearly 100 open source tools, from the widely
applied (like Linux, Perl, and Apache) to the Oracle-specific (like
Orasoft, Orac, OracleTool, and OraSnap). The authors describe where to
find these tools, what their advantages are, and how to create and
release new open source Oracle tools yourself.
"The combination of Oracle Corporation and open source software may
appear to be an unlikely pairing. What could Oracle, with its history
of ruthless competition, intense marketing, and cutthroat corporate
life, have to do with the collaborative, altruistic, and apparently
anti-corporate world of open source?" says Andy Duncan, coauthor of
Oracle & Open
Source. "The answer, surprisingly, is quite a lot. In
recent years, the gospel of the open source movement has spread far and
wide, reaching even the corporate corridors and product lines of
organizations like Oracle Corporation. This new synergy between the
corporate world of Oracle and the freewheeling world of open source is
a great thing--the blended products we're starting to see truly do
represent the best of both worlds."
"Oracle, as the first major independent software vendor to announce
Linux support, played a key role in bringing open source to the
mainstream," says Eric S. Raymond, author of Cathedral & the
Bazaar and President of the Open Source Initiative. "This book
continues that tradition by showing Oracle developers and DBAs how open source
can improve their working lives and their productivity. I'm very glad to
see it."
Online Resources:
Registration has opened for O'Reilly's Open Source Convention in
San Diego, July 23-27, 2001.
Oracle & Open
Source
By Andy Duncan & Sean Hull
ISBN 0-596-00018-9, 424 pages, $39.95 (US)
order@oreilly.com
1-800-998-9938
