Sun Microsystems buys MySQL for $1bn

[themoose]

Sun Microsystems will plunk down $1 billion to buy MySQL, the maker of a popular open-source database. Sun said Wednesday that it will pay about $800 million in cash for MySQL’s privately held stock and will assume about $200 million worth of options. MySQL CEO Marten Mickos will join Sun’s senior executive team after the transaction closes. The acquisition is a bold move for Sun, which has embraced open-source software and development practices in an effort to garner more revenue from its software business. Until now, it has sold support services for a competing open-source database, PostgreSQL. Company executives said they will continue to support PostgreSQL and continue to partner with database giant Oracle.

That's one hell of a deal.

http://www.rlslog.net/sun-buys-mysql-for-1-billion/ - Sorry, I couldnt be bothered to find a better source.

[Ben]

Alternative source: http://blogs.mysql.com/kaj/2008/01/16/sun-acquires-mysql/

[iBrightDev]

damn, that is crazy. i bet Marten is really happy about the deal.

[Tree]

I see a bright future for MySQL.

[Stan]

I see a bright future for MySQL.

Me too, lets see if anything changes due to this. i cant see them buying them out and not doing anything new with it...

[krakjoe]

I see a bright future for MySQL.

Rly?? I'm not convinced it was a good idea, I think support will go down hill, development will center around Suns' existing technology instead of the things that people actually use MySQL for, and it's probably time to start using postgress servers .... they had a good run, but I think they'll crash and burn. Sun is a huge corporation, comparable to microsoft, with their finger in a lot of pies, large corporations cannot move quick enough to provide the level of support and standard that MySQL have provided thus far :(

[stuffradio]

I like pie :)

[Decker]

I agree with Joe, not really excited about this :(

[krakjoe]

I like pie :)

Well said, absolutely.

[Stan]

Well, personally

"i see treeeeees of green, red roses too..." LOL

[Tree]

Sun's been getting more into open source and embracing that mentality. With their enormous resources, I think this is a good step. There's a large enough community that while official support may suffer, community support will still be strong.