“One enterprising company is betting that the database is
destined to be the killer application for open source Linux.”
“Going up against big-name vendors such as Oracle, IBM and
Microsoft is no laughing matter. But Great Bridge, which entered
the commercial database market last December, maintains that its
low-cost, powerful PostgreSQL offering, combined with its services
and support business model, will appeal to small to midsize
businesses.”
“The database has high-level capabilities such as multiversion
concurrency and no lock contention. Other open-source databases,
such as MySQL and Interbase, are available for download at little
or no cost. Great Bridge, however, says it is pushing harder into
commercial markets than those competitors.”
“Like Linux distributors Red Hat and Caldera, Great Bridge
essentially gives away its open-source database application at
little cost but charges for service and support. And while market
leader Oracle has taken a liking to the Linux database market over
the past year, Great Bridge executives say their licensing costs
for the software, service andsupport still represent a huge cost
savings forcustomers.”