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MySQL Product Renaming Refined

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Starting with MySQL 4.0, MySQL AB has introduced a new product naming scheme to offer customers more choice and to have a clearer distinction between the different versions offered for download.

MySQL is available under two different licenses:
* The GPL (GNU General Public License) - freely available for download
* The MySQL commercial license (non-GPL) - for paying customers only

The source code for both these licenses is identical - there are no features removed or added.

For more information about the MySQL licensing policy, please refer to the following web page: http://www.mysql.com/products/licensing.html (http://www.mysql.com/products/licensing.html)

Based on these two license models, MySQL AB has created a selection of product configurations of MySQL 4.0 with distinct names:

+----------------+--------------------+
| GPL License | Commercial License |
+----------------+--------------------+
| MySQL Standard | MySQL Pro |
| MySQL Max | MySQL Classic |
+----------------+--------------------+

What is in which version?

MySQL Standard includes the standard MySQL storage engines (e.g. MyISAM)and the InnoDB storage engine. InnoDB is a transaction-safe, ACID-compliant storage engine with commit, rollback, crash recovery and row-level locking capabilities. This version is for users who want the high-performance MySQL database with full transaction support. MySQL Standard is licensed under the GPL and is the recommended choice for most users.

MySQL Pro is the commercially licensed version of the server with the same feature-set (also including InnoDB). It i available under the commercial licenses only.

MySQL Classic only includes the standard MySQL storage engines, differing from MySQL Pro and MySQL Standard only by the omission of the InnoDB storage engine. It is available under the commercial license only.

MySQL Max is for users who want early access to new features. This version includes the standard MySQL storage engines, the InnoDB storage engine, and other extras like the Berkeley database (BDB) storage engine, SSL transport-layer encryption, and support for splitting tables across multiple files to avoid operating system file size limitations (RAID). In future releases, MySQL Max will include more cutting-edge features. Please note, that some of these features are not available on all platforms and may vary from version to version. MySQL Max is licensed under the GPL.