Apple re-open source FoundationDB
In 2015, Apple acquired the data provider FoundationDB in order to enhance the server technology of its App Store, iTunes Connect, and iTunes services in the cloud. FoundationDB then changed from open source to closed source, and now, three years later, it is reopened.
Apple’s reputation for system closure is of interest to a small team product such as FoundationDB because Apple continues to fill technology genes in the era of big data, and FoundationDB as an enhanced NoSQL (similar to the key database HBase, but also able Running ACID transactions, for Apple, just to enhance their cloud service capabilities.
However, at the time it triggered the dissatisfaction of the open source community, developers and participants of the open source ecosystem expressed their concern and unease about the commercial acquisition of open source projects. They thought that this would increase the risk for the contributors and participants of open source projects. Even the open source project itself is an injury or even killing.
Just yesterday, Apple announced the reopening of its FoundationDB distributed database.
The statement of FoundationDB official website states:
“We believe FoundationDB can become the foundation of the next generation of distributed databases. Since its beginnings in 2010 as a startup, the world of databases has increasingly aligned with FoundationDB to favor data consistency.
The vision of FoundationDB is to start with a simple, powerful core and extend it through the addition of “layers”. The key-value store, which is open sourced today, is the core, focused on incorporating only features that aren’t possible to write in layers. Layers extend that core by adding features to model specific types of data and handle their access patterns.
By open sourcing the FoundationDB core, we expect the quantity and variety of layers to develop rapidly. When we think about the FoundationDB community, we approach it both in terms of the core itself and the ecosystem of layers that it enables.”
