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.

MySQL, founded in 1995, is one of the most successful open-source companies. It’s part of the popular combination of open-source development products referred to as LAMP, for Linux, Apache Web server, MySQL and the PHP development language, which is broadly used on the Internet and within companies.

However, the acquisition also comes with some potential difficulties. “This raises a whole bunch of issues concerning Sun’s close ties to Oracle, as well as their investment in PostgreSQL,” Zachary said.

Source: CNet

Paying a billion for an open-source firm? Even though MySQL do have some commercial packages, it still doesn’t seem to be a good buy. Sun seems like an old and tired company these days.

I always thought MySQL and Java had some similarities – both their websites are confusing. Go to Sun Java website and if you’re not an existing Java developer, you won’t know how to start programming Java. Likewise, if you go to MySQL, you’ll take 5 minutes to hunt down the free MySQL. They already have things in common before they even start. A good omen?

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