The Value of Open Source Developer Communities: $1 Billion

Open source software is developed by communities. Geeks from around the world come together and build incredibly useful tools like WordPress and Drupal. Those technologies rely on even more open source technologies — the components of the LAMP stack — each with their own dedicated communities of developers.

Technology products created this way — without a top-down corporate interest — are often the highest-performing. The fundamental tension for businesses is that these products often lack the same accountability and support available with commercial products.

On Wednesday, Sun announced that it had acquired MySQL AB for $1 billion. This is a true testament the power of the community that has made MySQL so powerful. Sun is betting that if corporations are given the chance to work with a recognizable company like Sun supporting a top-notch open source product like MySQL, they’ll choose to do so rather than working with the reigning proprietary products.

I’d say that’s a good bet.

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