Volume: Money or Misdirection?

“In the wake of the billion dollar valuation of MySQL, a number
of intelligent folks have been crunching the estimated numbers in
search of an equation that makes sense in the context of the market
economics and come up wanting (as predicted). Jeff Gould states it
most clearly, asking:

“But I’m still left wondering, can Sun make MySQL subscription
sales rise far enough and fast enough to justify that humongous
billion dollar price tag…? Only time will tell. But in my humble
opinion, MySQL’s open source business model will make Sun’s road to
payback a lot steeper than if it had bought a software company with
conventional revenues and profits…”

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