Oracle is countering MySQL, Ingres and the like with its own low-cost programs and even a few free apps.

FORBES: The New Barbarians

Just as cheap personal computers undermined the mainframe business in the 1980s and open-source programs like Linux and Mysql are challenging Microsoft and Oracle today, outfits like Fastcase are attacking Wexis' stranglehold on legal research from the bottom up.

FORBES: Magazine Article

DaimlerChrysler, Siemens and UPS use MySQL, spending (so says MySQL) one-tenth of what they would have spent on the Oracle alternative.

FORBES: Magazine Article

DaimlerChrysler (nyse: DCX - news - people ), Siemens and UPS use MySQL, spending (so says MySQL) one-tenth of what they would have spent on the Oracle alternative.

FORBES: Irreplaceable?

If Oracle's acquisition of Sun Microsystems goes through, it will have an even bigger open-source portfolio including MySQL, a popular program for databases.

ECONOMIST: Open-source software in the recession: Born free | The