Open Source - ripe for consolidation?

Sun's acquisition of MySQL demonstrated a lot of things, but one of the main ones is that there's lots of money in "free" software.

You could put this another way if you're an analyst: "After several years of mostly one-off deals, open source deal flow took off in 2007, setting a new record for M&A [mergers and acquisition] in the sector," say Brenon Daly and Raven Zachary, analysts at the 451 Group in a report. And they were writing BEFORE the $1bn Sun deal.

And, by and large, this is a good thing. Open source companies mostly make components of various sizes. Once these have proved themselves, they become more valuable when they are owned by a big company that has the clout to impress IT managers, who may not trust a small outfit.

So, while the large parts of the financial world are in turmoil, there's value here. More open source companies are being bought for more money.

Previous booms have turned out to be bubbles but - in my opinion at any rate - there's plenty of value to underwrite a lot more open source business activity.