IIRC, Yahoo did not use the newer versions of BDB because even running it on their own servers came with a huge (multimillion-dollar) license cost. They stayed

IIRC, Yahoo did not use the newer versions of BDB because even running it on their own servers came with a huge (multimillion-dollar) license cost. They stayed with some eldritch version for this reason. Perhaps the new Oracle regime is less onerous. The page you link to is carefully worded: "The following are not redistribution: Building an application for use internal to your organization, deployed and managed on your company servers." This does not appear to include using BDB on your public-facing web application.