Sun Microsytem has acquired MYSQL for over $1 billion, and has got a big M from the world of LAMP, under it’s umbrella!!
This is definitely a mindblowing news for all Open source folks. Sun has been very instrumental in creating their own space with the Java technology (which they open sourced earlier) and Solaris and also recently announced it’s support for the startups by providing servers and software at low cost to help the ecosystem of startups.
What does this acquisition mean for the OSS world?
Sun has been a successful company with their good product line-ups such as JAVA and SOLARIS, but in recent days it has overall realized the need to get all its software on a Open source level to help the community pour in more ideas and creativity for making it much perfect.
On the other hand, MYSQL has been at the forefront of every startup these days [thanks to LAMP, i.e. [Linux-Apache-MYSQL-PHP] developing web apps is just too easy these days].
“From Facebook, Google and Sina.com to banks and telecommunications companies, architects looking for performance, productivity and innovation have turned to MySQL. In high schools and college campuses, at startups, at high performance computing labs and in the Global 2000. The adoption of MySQL across the globe is nothing short of breathtaking. They are the root stock from which an enormous portion of the web economy springs.” [Sun CEO]
MYSQL would definitely benefit and probably we might see the trend of using MYSQL in enterprise applications over the mighty Oracles and the MsSqls of the world. There could be definitive pact in using the SOLARIS for the open source, but i see it to be very bleak at this point.
Its always beneficial for the open source community and the growing concern forSun would be the support and growth of PHP. I am sure they could tackle that well.
And btw, did we hear it right that WINDOWS would also have a GNU GPL tag???? (how would they survive otherwise 
Long live OSS !
Recommended Read: Complete coverage of OSS events in 2007, PHP vs .Net – What’s the right technology for startups?
I have mixed feelings on this deal . on one hand its a good news for open source based business . it validate OSS dev as an viable business . but on the other hand i forsee all these big guys ( Facebook,Google,Yahoo) starting their own tweak /branch to MySql and they will do it inhouse to reduce the dependency on a competitor. who have “other interest ” . its very unlikely that sun will leave MySql on its own device . they would try to cross sell .for a strategic thing like back end database you need a neutral vendor . at least operationally neutral .
this deal can potentially be a death nail to My Sql if you see that AMZ has recently launched EasyDB on SAAS model .
@Prashant :
I think you are right in thinking that its good news for open source world with such success stories. And I do not think there is TOO MUCH to worry about with Sun.
Java is with them. OpenSolaris is a successful Distro. MySQL will flourish even more.
And in the remote event that Sun changes its colours, countless number of people have MySQL source with them and it will be a matter of time before we start seeing it;s forks. And history has been witness to the fact that, whenever such things happen, it results only in the birth of a better software.
I’m not very positive about this acquisition, given the reputation of Sun for promising more and delivering less when it comes to open source community. Having Ian Murdoch at the helm for OpenSolaris doesn’t make up for the company culture and attitude towards OSS. If anybody here has followed the Linus’s verbal assault on Sun and Jonathan’s repartees would understand the gravity and have a better perspective on this topic. I’m looking forward to hear more thoughts and opinions.
thanx
Venkat
I agree, Linus and Ian had quite a repartee. I read the exchange of mails. And I also know of notorious Solaris are (remember ZFS ?). But still, we have Java as a good example of what Sun is capable of doing if it intends to.