[ Thanks to Fred Mobach
for this link. ]
“Today at Linux World, SAP AG announced it will make the SAP
DB database management system available as open-source software
under GNU General Public License. SAP will host a community
forum at http://www.sapdb.org to drive further development of SAP
DB with open-source contributors and provide users with free access
to the Web-enabled database software so they can rapidly deploy and
custom develop applications.”
“We welcome the SAP decision to make SAP DB open source,” said
Bernhard Kraft, SAP-basis competence centrum manager at Deutsche
Post in Bonn, Germany. “This will ensure fast, continual,
Internet-speed improvement of our database platform, SAP DB.”
Deutsche Post World Net, based in Bonn, is a leading international
provider of mail services and logistics with worldwide subsidiaries
and branches.”
“The open-source development method, of which the Linux
operating system is probably the most widely known example, makes
software source code freely available for anyone to review, enhance
and redistribute. SAP is already actively participating in the
open-source community. In March 1999, when it announced the
availability of SAP solutions on Linux, SAP became the first
inter-enterprise business software provider to deliver e-business
solutions on Linux and have live customers.”