The History and Evolution of MySQL and MariaDB

MySQL is a cross‑century product first released in 1979, making it more than ten years older than the Java language, and its longevity is remarkable.

It is widely used by major internet companies such as Google, Taobao, Facebook, Twitter, Baidu, and Tencent, and has become synonymous with the term "database".

The popularity of MySQL stems from its open‑source and free nature, which encourages widespread adoption and a community of enthusiasts who provide technical support, creating a virtuous cycle that pushes MySQL to the forefront.

In China, Alibaba promoted the "de‑IOE" strategy (removing IBM, Oracle, and EMC) to reduce costs, using MySQL as a foundation and gradually eliminating reliance on Oracle; this move spurred many other domestic companies to adopt MySQL as their primary database.

Alibaba also developed its own database, OceanBase, which won the 2019 TPC‑C benchmark, surpassing Oracle and showcasing Chinese technological strength. TPC‑C is the most credible benchmark for online transaction processing performance, serving as a hard test for commercial databases.

MySQL Was Sold

In 2008, Sun acquired MySQL for $1 billion, and the following year Sun (including MySQL) was sold to Oracle for $7.4 billion, bringing both Oracle DB and MySQL under the same umbrella.

Oracle later sued Google for alleged Java copyright infringement, eventually winning a $8.8 billion judgment in 2018, which, if fully collected, would mean Oracle profited from both Java and MySQL acquisitions.

MySQL Starts Anew

After Sun’s acquisition, MySQL founder Monty Widenius left Sun and created a fork called MariaDB, named after his youngest daughter Maria.

Maria is the name of Monty’s youngest daughter, and the naming of MariaDB reflects the personal connection to the original creator.

MariaDB First Experience

MariaDB is derived from MySQL, and in most aspects it is compatible, allowing applications written in PHP, Perl, Python, Java, .NET, or Ruby to work without modification.

MariaDB’s release cadence is faster than Oracle’s MySQL, and it offers additional configuration options such as port, encoding, and password settings.

Download links: MariaDB vs MySQL comparison and MariaDB downloads .

Installation screenshots are shown below:

Choose the appropriate version and operating system for download.

Enter the user password and confirm it, optionally selecting UTF‑8 as the default character set.

After configuring the service name, port, and memory usage, click Next and wait for the installation to complete.

Built‑in Client

MariaDB installs the HeidiSQL client automatically, providing a convenient graphical interface for database operations.

The client’s UI is shown in the following screenshots:

The Chinese menu and built‑in features such as views, SQL execution, and data import/export make it a practical tool.

Command‑Line Tool

If you prefer the MySQL command line, you can use it with MariaDB without installing MySQL separately; simply add MariaDB’s bin directory to the system PATH.

After updating the environment variable, you can run MySQL commands directly from CMD, as shown below:

The command syntax remains identical to MySQL, providing a familiar experience.

Official MySQL

Although Oracle acquired MySQL and its recent updates have been slower, Oracle still offers a free Community Server and several paid editions.

MySQL Community Server – open‑source, free, no official support.

MySQL Enterprise Edition – paid, 30‑day trial available.

MySQL Cluster – open‑source, allows multiple servers to act as a single cluster.

MySQL Cluster CGE – advanced paid cluster edition.

MySQL Workbench – GUI tool for ER modeling, available in Community (OSS) and Commercial (SE) versions.

Thus, you can continue using Oracle’s MySQL versions, but trying MariaDB is also worthwhile because it offers additional features and optimizations.

Conclusion

MySQL’s journey includes acquisition by Sun, later by Oracle, and the creation of the MariaDB fork by its original founder; MariaDB can be viewed as an upgraded version of MySQL, and interested readers are encouraged to give it a try.