The article presents the problem as mostly organizational and not with the actual software. Maybe the parent comment was a little off topic, but it also serves to further illustrate the problem.
The parent commenter was familiar enough with the product to know he wanted to use it, but the project and its strategy is so disorganized that he walked away empty handed. Now he's unknowingly spreading misinformation to other people who may be deciding whether or not to use the product.
This is really a perfect example of what the article discussed. MySQL tries to present itself as an open source organization but does not function as such, resulting in confusion and frustration among contributors. The fact that consumers are also confused over what they can and can't do only goes to show that these mixed messages have permeated the entire organization.
This is an ooold problem, and I don't mean organizational, but people confusing the download link. I think I did it first at least 5 years ago. Still, the GP should be downmodded at least to a pale gray, maybe -2, and stay there. An honest mistake is still a mistake, and it's our job to mark it clearly as such.
As far as the project being disorganized, I'd much rather think this comes from the old days when men were men, documentations came in man pages and people were ashamed of not RTFM. I know I held my head down for at least a week after that.
The parent commenter was familiar enough with the product to know he wanted to use it, but the project and its strategy is so disorganized that he walked away empty handed. Now he's unknowingly spreading misinformation to other people who may be deciding whether or not to use the product.
This is really a perfect example of what the article discussed. MySQL tries to present itself as an open source organization but does not function as such, resulting in confusion and frustration among contributors. The fact that consumers are also confused over what they can and can't do only goes to show that these mixed messages have permeated the entire organization.