Is MySQL’s Fate the Future of Open Source?

“It’s not every day that the entire technical press goes bonkers
over news in the open source world, but that’s what happened last
week, when Sun announced that it was buying MySQL. Doubtless, the
pleasant roundness of the sum involved–$1 billion–helped, as did
the fact that most of that was cash. But leaving aside the sense of
satisfaction that events in the free software world should be
suddenly thrust centre-stage, Sun’s move does raise a larger
question about the fate of all open source start-ups.

“Ever since Red Hat bought Jboss for $420 million in April 2006,
MySQL was clearly the leader of the rest of the business open
source pack…”

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