Sun to Acquire MySQL - LAMP + MARS

Sun Microsystems Announces Agreement to Purchase MySQL

Today, January 16, 2008 Sun Microsystems, Inc. announces it has entered into an agreement to purchase MySQL AB. Sun's distribution channels and support is definitely going to accelerate the growth of MySQL in the database market. MySQL has over 50,000 copies downloaded daily with an estimated total downloads of over 100 million is already the fastest growing database in the Internet market. Combining MySQL with Sun is sure to increase the growth and incredible popularity MySQL is currently encountering. The purchase is for 1 billion dollars, 800 million in cash and 200 million in options. After the announcement Sun stock is up by 10% which is an increase of about 1 billion dollars. Everything is relative. :) The pending purchase is going to be the largest financial transaction for open source. Despite this being an important day for open source, this is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of where open source is going.

Sun and MySQL - A Change Agent
Sun's emphasis on meritocracy and MySQL's focus on egalitarianism is sure to bring new innovativeness and ingenuity to the Internet market. The Sun and MySQL cultures have a lot of similarity and this combination is sure to be a change agent. Sun helped change the IT world and replaced Digital Equipment Corporation and forced HP and IBM to change their positions on large big computers being replaced by small powerful computers. MySQL is continuing to change the IT world by providing a strong open source database and has forced proprietary database companies like Oracle, IBM and Microsoft to address the growing popularity of MySQL and open source. Sun currently plays a large role in the server and Java worlds will now play a larger role in IT nfrastructures.

MySQL Key Component of Web Platform

The MySQL database is a key component of the web platform along with the LAMP software platform of Linux, Apache, MySQL/memcached and PHP/Perl. With Sun including OpenSolaris, OpenOffice, GlassFish, Java, and NetBeans this is going to increase the power of the web platform that both Sun and MySQL play a key role in. MARS is the MySQL, Apache, Ruby on Rails and Solaris platform. Sun and MySQL have been two of the most innovation companies in the web software platform for the Internet. The combination of MySQL and Sun is sure to help take the web platform to new levels which will benefit large organizations as well as small individual companies.

The Toy Revolution is Here!
In the past, some proprietary companies have tried to address the incredible explosion of MySQL's popularity by saying it was a "toy". As stated today, the world had better prepare for the Toy Revolution! Acquisitions today are very dynamic and changing the world. Apple's purchase of Next brought tremendous innovation and creativity to Apple which spearheaded the growth of Apple. Sun's purchase of MySQL has the potential to bring a tremendous amount of new creativity, energy and dynamics to Sun Microsystems.