Oracle is duking it out with IBM for database market share, but Linux put Oracle over the top this year.
For years, Oracle and IBM have fought over bragging rights for the $8 billion database software market - a key technological battleground upon which sales of almost all other business software depend.
Now Oracle seems poised to gain an edge in that battle, thanks to years of work pent adapting its software for Linux. More from Business 2.0 Home-buying bargains in exotic locales 15 tips for a better business trip How to tap your company's hidden network Fastest Growing Tech Companies Current Issue Subscribe to Business 2.0
On Tuesday, Oracle announced it was donating file-clustering technology to the Linux open-source project, a contribution meant to help make Linux a better operating system for running large databases.
Can Linux help Oracle beat IBM?