Sun and MySQL

Sun bought MySQL AB, the Swedish company that provided support for the MySQL database system. This was widely hailed as a stupid move.

History now says that was a stupid move.

Lesson for companies wishing to invest in open source software: don't buy other companies. Instead, hire the developers and put your own developers to work on it. It's slower, but cheaper and more likely to succeed in making you money.

In general, paying for a software company is silly, but paying for an open source software company is sillier. Pay for talent and hard work.

Sun and MySQL

Sun bought MySQL AB, the Swedish company that provided support for the MySQL database system. This was widely hailed as a stupid move.

History now says that was a stupid move.

Lesson for companies wishing to invest in open source software: don't buy other companies. Instead, hire the developers and put your own developers to work on it. It's slower, but cheaper and more likely to succeed in making you money.

In general, paying for a software company is silly, but paying for an open source software company is sillier. Pay for talent and hard work.