Open source software is challenging the business models of traditional enterprise software vendors and revolutionizing how operating systems, databases and desktop applications are created and supported. The economics of open source are re-defining the business models of the largest enterprise software companies globally (Bitzer, H Schröder, 2007). It is has in fact had a major impact on the Microsoft business model, forcing the world's largest software company to re-define their stance on open source and as of July, adopt it as one of the standards it develops software for (Lai, Gralla, 2008). Open sources' pervasive influence on software begins with the desktop (Weiss, 2008) and now encompasses integration standards including XML (Morgan, 2005). Open sources' impact on databases has been one of the application areas where the greatest degree of innovation has occurred, both from a business model and technological perspective (Ebert, 2008). Open source databases including Apache, MySQL, PostgreSQL and other are now actively in use within enterprises, managing mission-critical tasks and processes (Ebert, 2008).
             Open Source Now a Viable Enterprise Alternative
             No longer relegated to early adopters who are willing to endure inordinately high costs both in terms of time invested and software updates and rollbacks to keep their systems current, open source database users are now mainstream enterprise companies. For any IT Director or CIO considering the use of open source DMBS, for example MySQL Server versus going with a proprietary DBMS such as Microsoft SQL Server or Oracle 10g Express Edition there are several factors to consider. The initial cost and yearly maintenance fees of the DBMS chosen, level of customization possible with each DBMS to the firms' unique process requirements, security of each type of DMBS (Bitzer, H Schröder, 2007, frequency and complexity of updates, and upwa
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