"Java, OpenOffice and MySQL are neat. Know anybody who's paid money for them?" Yes. Java still makes money for Sun for embedded and mobile devices. The licen

"Java, OpenOffice and MySQL are neat. Know anybody who's paid money for them?" Yes. Java still makes money for Sun for embedded and mobile devices. The licensing costs for a mobile JVM are reasons why you see the rather unique approaches taken by Android. Back in 2006, MySQL had $60 million in revenue, so someone's paying for it. Not sure about OpenOffice (or Star Office, that is).