Apparently Sun is going to buy MySQL. This could have huge implications not just for the mysql database but for open source in general. Sun isn’t a bad company, per se, and they have been embracing the open source model. I can see how this fits in nicely with their strategies for the future. MySQL, on the other hand, could benefit from having big brain hardware and software guys and a lot of commercial relationships with huge installs of expensive, legacy Sun equipment. So, their stock price to the contrary, Sun is probably not that bad of a partner for MySQL.
Yet you can’t help shudder at the thought of big-ass companies buying up all the open source technology and making it proprietary somehow. Oracle buys apache! SAP buys Ubuntu! HP buys Firefox!