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What Sun money buys MySQL

MySQL is now advertising in Businessweek. Looks like open source has finally grown up.

Matt Asay Contributing Writer
Matt Asay is a veteran technology columnist who has written for CNET, ReadWrite, and other tech media. Asay has also held a variety of executive roles with leading mobile and big data software companies.
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Matt Asay
Sun's Businessweek advertisement for MySQL Businessweek Magazine

I'm sure there are many benefits for MySQL being a part of a large IT vendor like Sun Microsystems, but the advertising budget probably doesn't hurt. Reading Businessweek today at lunch, I bumped into this MySQL advertisement in a super-prime location (right next to Wildstrom's Tech and You column).

I would hazard a guess that MySQL spent close to $0.00 on advertising when it was a standalone company. I doubt Marten, Zack, and crew are complaining. :-)

It will be interesting to see if this top-down approach will help to drive more MySQL sales. Open source has always been a bottom-up phenomenon, but perhaps once a project reaches a certain stature marketing and other "grown-up" software activities can go a long way?

At any rate, it's clear that open source has come a long way when we start advertising in major business publications like Businessweek.