Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Finally MySQL gets World-class support!

And have we been waiting for THAT puppy! Yeah, right, all over the years MySQL, Sun and Oracle has been providing real crappy support (tm), but now, finally, it is world class. And if you believe this, then may I interest you in a famous New York bridge that I can provide at a real bargain price? Or?

Fact is, MySQL already has world-class support. If you don't trust me, then look at the MySQL website, hosted by no one else than... Oracle! Like this from Mårten Mikkos or this, quoting Rich Green and Jonathan Schwartz (if you remember him).
Both claiming that now, finally, with Sun, is MySQL customers getting "world class support". Strange thing is, the same guys who are now to give world-class support are largely the same guys who has been providing much less than "world class" support.

And make no mistake, dudes, I'm not pointing fingers at the Support guys at MySQL, not by far, quite the opposite, they need some support from us now, when what they have been doing all the time is suddenly turned "world class" just because they have to use an Oracle developer crap support system. And I'm not pointing fingers to Mårten, Rich or Jonathan either at least not much. They were apparently wrong (as the support didn't actually turn World class until now), but we all had great expectations at that time, expectations which didn't turn into reality, but at least spirits were high.

In conclusion, I am much less upset with what Oracle, Sun and MySQL representatives said and how that was said, after all, they, and are most of us, stuck with a way of expressing our selves. In particular, Oracle has the problem of showing that they can add value to MySQL, they just have to, but that is difficult in most cases, so you have to use some meaningless terminology. What I DO worry about is the MySQL tech support guys at Oracle.

Come Oracle, give these guys some cred, they need it and deserve it. And just using Oracle support systems and being employed by Oracle doesn't make support World-class, but the people who make it World-class, and those have been there all the time, so really, it's been world class all the time.

/Karlsson

7 comments:

LinuxJedi said...

I'm not quite sure about that, quite a few of the MySQL Support guys moved on and are staffing other companies with World Class Support :)

Matthew Montgomery said...

@LinuxJedi : I take umbrage at the insinuation! Several support guys that are still there also came from the company you're at now. I think it's a wash.

LinuxJedi said...

Matt: lol! The remaining MySQL staff at Oracle still rock ;)
What I mean is there are other MySQL based companies with ex-MySQL staff too offering "World Class Support" (I have no idea about Rackspace's since it isn't related my department)

Jonathan Levin said...

What?? Oracle bought Percona!? No Way!

Mark Callaghan said...

If we weren't previously receiving world class support can we get a rebate?

Lachlan Mulcahy said...

+1 Anders. The MySQL Support (now in Oracle) organization is still largely staffed by many of the same folks who had been supporting the product for a very long time. Speaking personally as someone who worked on that team from MySQL and through Sun days I can assure you that I have not seen in all my years as much true dedication to providing industry leading support services. There was no pressure to meet KPIs or any such crap - it was all about solving customer problems and leaving them pleasantly impressed that we went above and beyond. My hat goes off to those who are still there, as I am sure they continue to do their best at what they do best.

Daniël van Eeden said...

The MySQL support system in the sun days:
- easy case submit page, it even remembered previous answers.
- very fast response even for low priority issues.
- easy escalation (only used that once or twice)

Some other support systems require multiple pages of information before a case can be submitted. And with other support companies they first ask for information they already have.

So I hope that the support system for MySQL products will still be world class the coming years.