The big news today is the acquisition of MySQL by Sun Microsystems. This is significant in many ways but I am excited that this deal debunks the myth that there is no big money in open source software. Sun has paid $1Billion for MySQL and it clearly shows how valuable MySQL is to the future of technology. The so called Web 2.0 era saw startups using LAMP stack in their applications and this turned the tide in favor of open source software. Only 10% of the Web 2.0 companies use proprietary software and this is a big shift from the Web 1.0 era when non proprietary software were considered ‘untouchables’.

Tim O’ Reilly and Matt Asay have written positively about this deal and there are a few people who are skeptical about Sun’s intentions. Sun’s CEO has written a blog post highlighting their intentions about MySQL. From his post, it is clear that they want a big piece of the market share in Web 2.0 era and beyond. They might make attempts to push Solaris along with MySQL, as Glyn Moody expects, but they will not antagonize the young web based industry that has pledged their loyalty to the L part of the LAMP. I get a positive vibe about this acquisition. I like the attitude of Jonathan Schwartz towards open source. Ever since he took over as Sun’s CEO, he has followed up his words about commitment to open source with his actions. I think the folks at Sun pretty much understand that their future doesn’t lie in SAMP. I am sure they know that any such attempts is disastrous to their company. Also, any attempts to compromise with the open source ethos of MySQL will not work just for the reason that MySQL, till now, is under open source license and anyone can take it from this point and develop it just with the help of the huge MySQL community. Mr. Schwartz is smart enough to understand that they can mess around with MySQL community only at their peril. Besides, they understand the value of Java community to their company and they will, similarly, use MySQL community to their own advantage. It just doesn’t make a business sense to mess around with the status quo of MySQL vis a vis Open Source. If my hunch feeling is right, they would allow MySQL to operate as an independent unit and use the acquisition to establish themselves in the database market. Let us just put our concerns about Sun’s commitment to open source into back burner and think about what this means to the industry.

As Matt Asay clearly points out in his blog, this acquisition will help open source vendors gang up in their war against Oracle’s proprietary software. Sun’s support will help convince enterprise customers to use open source MySQL for their mission critical applications. Sun’s weight will also help spur more innovation and, thereby, help develop MySQL into a world class database. If Sun moves its cards properly, this could mark the beginning of the end of proprietary companies like Oracle. Add this to efforts by Amazon and others to offer Database On Demand, we are definitely in an interesting phase where companies like Oracle and Microsoft are facing the heat.

This deal also marks the beginning of flow of big money into Open Source software. Myths about lack of big money in Open Source is put to rest once and for all. This has two fold advantage. On one hand, this will convince enterprises to bet on Open Source software without inhibition. A consequence of this, on the other hand, will entice more and more companies (both the established ones and startups) to take the open source path because it is a win-win scenario for both businesses and consumers. A proprietary approach may be a win for businesses but it is definitely a loss for consumers.

However, I would like to end this post with a word of caution. I am optimistic about this deal and I have confidence in Jonathan Schwartz’s commitment to Open Source. But, Sun Microsystems is a publicly traded company and it has to play to the whims and fancies of its share holders. Finally, it boils down to how Sun’s management and MySQL team play their cards. Let us hope that this turns out to be one of the historic moments in the Open Source movement.