A highly credible source has revealed today that Oracle made not one, not two, but at least three separate offers for MySQL. The first was apparently in the range of $300 million. The second? $500 million. The last one was in the range of $850 million.

MySQL was bought by SUN, lest we forget, for an estimated $1 billion.

Matt Asay then published a retraction [blogs.cnet.com]

One of the problems with relying on sources unaffiliated with a company is that no matter how trustworthy, they can still be wrong. Such is the case with my post on MySQL and Oracle. The information contained in it turns out to be inaccurate as I've just found out. I apologize for my original post, especially to those at Oracle, MySQL, and Sun who may be affected by it. My source was not a member of the current or past MySQL team or board.

He concludes: "This is not the first nor the last example of my gross incompetence."

A rare confession in journalism!

Dunno about you, but I've already forgiven and forgotten! :)