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    OpenAI Acquires Rockset

    (openai.com)
    249 points colesantiago | 17 comments | 21 Jun 24 15:04 UTC | HN request time: 1.299s | source | bottom
    1. rockyroad ◴[21 Jun 24 15:55 UTC] No.40750844[source]▶
    https://docs.rockset.com/documentation/docs/faq

    Rockset is off boarding existing customers. Definitely sucks we spent the last 3 months adopting it. We used it to replicate dynamodb in near real time for adhoc & reporting queries. Schemaless architecture was very easy to work with

    replies(3): >>40751220 #>>40751360 #>>40752307 #
    2. noufalibrahim ◴[21 Jun 24 16:34 UTC] No.40751220[source]▶
    Ideally, success of customers should mean success of company but the incentives are wildly misaligned here. It seems perfectly "okay" from the company perspective since they are in it to make money but doing that by telling their customers to "leave because we got acquired and no longer care about what we sold you last week" is really harsh.
    replies(1): >>40751727 #
    3. PeterCorless ◴[21 Jun 24 16:49 UTC] No.40751360[source]▶
    Yikes! 30 Sep cut off? That's not a lot of lead time, given the amount of work database systems require to data model, benchmark and migrate. My apologies if this seems inappropriate but given the urgency, my employer, StarTree, has a free tier if anyone needs to try out alternate solutions.

    https://startree.ai/saas-signup

    I understand Rockset-to-StarTree (Apache Pinot) is not a 1:1 drop-in replacement. But hopefully it's a port in a storm.

    Whether you end up on StarTree or another suitable alternate, I hope everyone has as painless a migration as possible. Reminds me a bit of how FoundationDB customers found themselves without a home when Apple acquired them back in 2015[0].

    [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9259986

    replies(2): >>40751888 #>>40806576 #
    4. Maxatar ◴[21 Jun 24 17:25 UTC] No.40751727[source]▶
    If you're a corporate customer, then you take that risk when you sign up for a month to month contract. Now usually a month to month works very well for you, but it is a risk you accept.

    A lot of corporate customers will seek longer term contracts, a year or even longer, so they can lock in a price and various service guarantees. Even in the case of this acquisition it's only customers on a month to month plan that have to migrate by September, customers on a long term contract will continue to have access and support for the duration of their contract.

    replies(1): >>40752112 #
    5. biggestdummy ◴[21 Jun 24 17:40 UTC] No.40751888[source]▶
    Hi PeterCorless! (We're friends IRL - it's Greg)

    While we're putting in plugs for open source alternatives, I'll recommend looking at StarRocks. https://www.starrocks.io/

    I share Peter's sentiment for wishing everyone an easy transition, whatever you choose.

    replies(2): >>40752249 #>>40752400 #
    6. CapcomGo ◴[21 Jun 24 18:04 UTC] No.40752112{3}[source]▶
    Sure but all of their contract customers still need to find a replacement
    replies(1): >>40752892 #
    7. Merick ◴[21 Jun 24 18:21 UTC] No.40752249{3}[source]▶
    Seconding the StarRocks project, best performance out there and the community is great. Tons of support.
    8. lopkeny12ko ◴[21 Jun 24 18:31 UTC] No.40752307[source]▶
    Don't these M&As need to be cleared by regulators? Seems premature to tell your customers you're discontinuing your product before the acquisition has actually cleared (and, for that matter, passed OpenAI's due diligence).
    replies(3): >>40752505 #>>40752696 #>>40754481 #
    9. mythticquest006 ◴[21 Jun 24 18:43 UTC] No.40752400{3}[source]▶
    Just adding to what Greg mentioned: if you want to learn more about StarRocks or have any questions, feel free to reach out to us in the StarRocks community on Slack: https://try.starrocks.com/join-starrocks-on-slack.
    10. preetamjinka ◴[21 Jun 24 18:54 UTC] No.40752505[source]▶
    According to [0] the acquisition has already been completed.

    [0] https://rockset.com/blog/openai-acquires-rockset/

    11. danielmarkbruce ◴[21 Jun 24 19:14 UTC] No.40752696[source]▶
    Tiny acquisitions which don't affect anything don't need sign off from any regulator. They likely signed the deal and closed it in one go.
    replies(1): >>40752805 #
    12. lolinder ◴[21 Jun 24 19:28 UTC] No.40752805{3}[source]▶
    How exactly does that work? Is there a formal threshold for when a regulator will want to take a look?
    replies(1): >>40753767 #
    13. jjmarr ◴[21 Jun 24 19:37 UTC] No.40752892{4}[source]▶
    If you want a service guarantee for longer than 1 month don't sign a contract for 1 month at a time.

    If you want a guarantee of more time to transition you are expected to pay for the privilege.

    replies(1): >>40756296 #
    14. danielmarkbruce ◴[21 Jun 24 21:02 UTC] No.40753767{4}[source]▶
    Yeah, the FTC and DOJ publish guidelines with thresholds, and you basically just follow them.

    E.g. https://www.ftc.gov/enforcement/premerger-notification-progr...

    https://www.ftc.gov/enforcement/premerger-notification-progr...

    There are like 10k+ mergers and acquisitions done in the US each year (ballpark). It requires real analysis to figure if something should be blocked (practically none have any real effect on anything and shouldn't be) and there are only so many folks at the regulators who can do that analysis (and honestly... they aren't good at it...).

    15. fullspectrumdev ◴[21 Jun 24 22:23 UTC] No.40754481[source]▶
    Usually no.

    I’ve been around for a few M&A that horrendously fucked customers of the “acquired” company and the regulator doesn’t care. Even if the acquirer is under regulatory observation.

    16. noufalibrahim ◴[22 Jun 24 04:35 UTC] No.40756296{5}[source]▶
    Makes sense. Thanks.
    17. srhyne ◴[27 Jun 24 02:11 UTC] No.40806576[source]▶
    Thank you, Peter. This timeline is brutal due to how deeply we integrated Rockset into multiple applications. This definitely obliterates any plans I had for Q3 or my summer.

    I'm worried more platforms like StarTree, SingleStore, etc will follow suit in the next 24 months.

    Any thoughts or assurances on this? Thank you for your post.