Marc G. Fournier wrote:
> On Wed, 12 Oct 2005, Joshua D. Drake wrote:
>
>> PostgreSQL doesn't suffer from that. Our only real, substantiated
>> concern that I can see is the potential for the Software Patent crap.
>
>
> Stupid question here ... if Oracle came at us with "the Software Patent
> crap",
Personally I think it's quite unlikely Oracle would try attacking
any F/OSS project on patent grounds. They've pretty much bet
the company on Linux (http://news.zdnet.com/2100-3513_22-5825433.html
"Within the next 5 years, half of Oracle's customers may be running
Linux, company President Charles Phillips has predicted". With
the sensitivity in the community that SCO/Baystar-and-friends created
I think that it'd be suicidal for Oracle to start any sort of
patent-vs-F/OSS war. Imagine the speculation of whether they'd
go after Linux itself next.........
My guess is that Oracle simply recognized that the Innobase guys
were solid database engineers with a product with a growing customer
base in a niche (low end databases) that Oracle didn't have a large
presence.
Therefore it made sense from both a recruiting and a
business growth opportunity to acquire them.
On those grounds I could certainly see Oracle buying successful
postgresql-based companies -- again, for both the talented people
and the proven market for those products. But rather than
harm the project, I imagine that would simply create incentives
for other talented database developers to join the project.