Sun's Acquisition of MySQL Validates Open Source Model

The big news Wednesday morning is that open source database startup MySQL finally found a year’s worth of rumors that they were mulling over an initial public offering. Sun Microsystems (JAVA) has acquired them instead, for $1 billion. MySQL had raised a total of $39 million from Benchmark, Index, IVP, Intel, and SAP.

Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz wrote about the acquisition on his blog, lavishing praise on MySQL:

“MySQL is by far the most popular platform on which modern developers are creating network services. From Facebook, Google (GOOG) 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.”

Startups with similar business models - managing a free open source project and bolting for-pay services on as a business model, will be happy to see this. Wordpress and OpenAds are two that we follow closely.

Comments

[TA:]

Why would anyone pay for something that's free?

I could just create BlahSQL and start selling support for it
Look what Oracle did to Red Hat, they just rebranded their Linux Unbreakable Linux

What a waste of money

2008 Jan 16 03:29 PM