@sigismundninja @GossiTheDog Oracle’s database product was good enough when it was introduced, and it got deeply entrenched in some really big companies (think on par with banks’ use of COBOL). They made a lot of money, which they used to expand, buying up other companies which make deeply entrenched stuff, like Sun with Solaris.

They make money mostly through literal extortion now. The companies which still depend on them are basically a captive market, so they have to pay whatever Oracle charges. The alternative is a total rewrite of core business systems which would cost several times as much as Oracle wants, and which would take years to get to a usable state (well beyond executives’ planning horizon).