Is Sun Getting Ready to Join the PostgreSQL Community?

I’m sure some people have heard [http://solutions.sun.com/catalog.static/en_US/6/4009501.html roumers] of Sun’s interest in PostgreSQL before, but an [http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;116679278;fp;16;fpid;0 article in ComputerWorld Australia] today actually has someone from Sun on the record saying they are looking at [http://www.postgresql.org/ PostgreSQL]. To quote the article: “… People in the high-end space are saying they just can’t afford the licensing fees they are charging [and] even Microsoft SQL is not dirt cheap.” Loiacono said that, because customers are asking what else is out there, Sun is taking a serious look at solving that problem by addressing some of the need in that space. “We’re not going to OEM Microsoft but we are looking at PostgreSQL right now,” he said, adding that over time the database will become integrated into the operating system. For a company that has made a lot of questionable moves lately, I don’t think anyone would be surprised to hear that I actually like this move. As Oracle moves more and more into Linux, Sun needs to do something to replace that gravy train, and PostgreSQL really is the right choice. No other open source database is going to give Sun the technical capabilities and general freedom it will need to turn it’s database offering into a serious contender to match up against m$ and ibm without getting bogged down in licensing costs and legal wranglings. Perhaps more importantly, Sun is wounded right now, and they can’t expect to enter into this new market on there own, but with PostgreSQL they won’t have to; they’ll have folks like [http://www.fastware.com.au/index.html Fujitsu], [http://www.sra.co.jp/index-en.html SRA] and [http://www.enterprisedb.com EnterpriseDB] pushing the technology forward while Sun figures out how best to make PostgreSQL fit.