UPDATE: The product chart has now been updated which says MySQL Classic Edition is for use as a embedded database and is not available as an Annual Subscription

In a move to make MySQL more profitable, Oracle has dropped support for InnoDB storage engine from the MySQL Classic edition which is available for free. So this free version of MySQL - the classic edition is left with only one storage engine, that is MyISAM. InnoDB Storage engine will be available only from MySQL Standard edition and above which starts at US$2000. However, InnoDB is still available for free on the MySQL Community edition.

New product chart: MySQL Classic edition is for use as an embedded database

Old Product Chart: InnoDB storage engine support dropped from Oracle MySQL Classic Edition

A quick look at the MySQL product page shows that Storage Engine: InnoDB is not available for the MySQL Classic Edition. Ironically, InnoDB is a property of Oracle after it acquired InnoDB's parent company Innobase way back in 2005.

This may very well pose to be a problem for developers and businesses who have their entire database structure in MySQL. And since InnoDB is stated to be a faster storage engine, companies generally tend to chose Innodb. Now that InnoDB is no more free, developers as well as businesses have to look out for suitable alternatives.

PostgreSQL has been a competing database to MySQL from some time now and we feel now is the time PostgreSQL may start gaining popularity. There is another option called NoSQL which is primarily meant for applications that have to scale on the cloud.

Recently we told you about the fate of OpenOffice.org - a Sun product which is not doing any good after being acquired by Oracle.

Further Reading: Read Write Web