Anyone who has wondered what would happen to MySQL now that Oracle has purchased it need look no farther than www.mysql.com. The website has been remade in Larry Ellison’s image. My company stopped using MySQL a few years ago (we switched to PostgreSQL), but I saw a press release that there’s a new version of MySQL, so I went to look at the release notes. Problem is, there are no links to documentation from the website. None. So what is there?

• Links in the heading for “Recommended servers for MySQL” (links to Sun/Oracle servers) and “Contact a MySQL Representative” (which has a login form)
• A search form, which can’t find product documentation
• A list of bullet points about the new version, if you click on the right rotating banner ad
• A whitepaper about the new version, behind a login form
• A full-page advertisement when you click on the home page link

But the coup de grâce is that a Google search for “MySQL Documentation” brings up an advertisement—with “MySQL Documentation” in its title—which leads to the whitepaper, login required.

(As a Java developer, I’m not actually surprised by any of this. For the last 15 years it’s been more convenient to use the online Java documentation than to download a local copy. Lately that’s changed. Oh, and for what it’s worth, the MySQL documentation website—it’s always been a separate site—has been Oraclified as well.)