First it was Monty Widenius who quit, or didn't, or was thinking about resignation as an option or something. Now David Axmark has officially resigned from Sun Microsystems, which bought MySQL the company — not to be confused with MySQL the open-source software — for a billion dollars in January. Like Monty before him, Axmark isn't completely quitting. He's going to "work with MySQL and Sun on a less formal basis" because, he says in a resignation letter, "I HATE all the rules that I need to follow, and I also HATE breaking them." Dude, it's called middle age. Here's the official blurb from MySQL spokesblogger Kaj Arnö:

We'd heard, on good authority, that Monty Widenius, creator of the popular open-source database MySQL, the foundation of most modern Web apps, had quit Sun, not long after the server maker's $1 billion purchase of his company. MySQL's designated community panderer, Kaj Arnö, muddied the waters with a maybe-he-will-maybe-he-won't blog post. Now, at last, via Infoworld, an explanation: Widenius is negotiating with Sun for a new role at MySQL. Which raises the question: Was he ever really planning to leave, or was he just telling people that to see how his corporate overseers would react?

Michael "Monty" Widenius, the leading mind behind the open-source database program MySQL, was credibly rumored to have resigned from Sun Microsystems last Thursday. Now Kaj Arnö, the VP of community for MySQL AB, the Swedish company acquired by Sun for a billion bucks in January, has done a spectacular job of confusing the hell out of everyone with an equivocating post on the topic. Arnö talked to Widenius and wrote: "Technically there is no resignation letter. However, I spoke to Monty yesterday, and yes, resignation is an option he considers ... In summary, I can neither confirm nor deny the rumour. But I hope my posting has shed some light on the situation." No, Kaj, no it hasn't. (Photo by Sebastian Bergmann)

Click to view"Just heard that Monty gave his resignation to Sun today," a tipster we trust writes about Michael Widenius, the Finnish-born main author of open-source database software MySQL. Sun Microsystems had aqcuired Monty's company, also called MySQL, for a cool billion in January. So who's running the show now? Best guess is Brian Aker, another prominent MySQL developer. Aker released a lightweight, Web 2.0-oriented version of MySQL called Drizzle in late July, but he's still at Sun.

With its 15 percent share, Balderton Capital cashed out big on Sun's $1 billion MySQL acquisition yesterday. But Benchmark, from which Balderton was spun off, took an even bigger risk on open source back when doing so seemed more than a little crazy."When we first invested in Red Hat it was thought to be totally insane. When we funded MySQL it was only partly insane," Benchmark Capital's Kevin Harvey told the FT after Sun announced its buy. Benchmark owned 26 percent of MySQL before yesterday's sale, providing the firm a much-needed big hit, the likes of which the firm hasn't seen since eBay.

You likely haven't heard of Balderton Capital, Benchmark's former affiliate in Europe. But Barry Maloney, a partner at the VC firm, is crowing after the $1 billion sale of MySQL to Sun. Balderton owned a 15 percent stake in MySQL. It owns a similar share of Bebo, the social network which Rupert Murdoch reportedly paid a visit to recently. Bebo denies Murdoch's interest was related to an acquisition. But Bebo's U.K. market share is a coveted prize. Were Bebo to sell, so soon after MySQL's exit, Maloney would have even more reason to brag; he's on Bebo's board.

Oracle has acquired BEA for $8.5 billion. Sun has acquired MySQL for $1 billion. These events are not coincidence. Oracle, which already makes a database, wants to add BEA's software on top of that database. Sun, which makes application servers and other software which connects to databases, wants to slip MySQL in underneath that layer. It all adds up to what geeks and software salesmen call a "stack," or a complete package of interconnecting programs.

Sun Microsystems will acquire open source database developer MySQL AB for approximately $1 billion, the companies announced this morning. Sun characterized the move as its entry into the $15 billion corporate-database market.