Oracle, however, is a different story, according to Fleury. "Larry [Ellison, Oracle CEO] is infatuated with open source. He needs open source like a hole in the head," Fleury said. Oracle was rumored to be ready to buy JBoss (http://www.infoworld.com/article/06/02/13/75301_HNellisonrationale_1.html) before Red Hat stepped up and made the acquisition.

IBM has been embracing open source, Polese said. Eventually, all four companies will be open source companies that figure out a way to make open source drive their business, she said.

Polese noted the shift open source has brought, in which heavy, up-front licensing fees have given way to generating revenues through service and support, with software being freely available. While this may be seen as bad news for business, the good news is open source has grown the overall software market. "There's absolutely room for growth here," she said.