Obviously, 2008 is off to a roaring start for open soure M&A. Amid all of the deals and our usual discussions with open source software vendors, we’re hearing more and more executives talk about the long-term potential of business based on open code. The SpringSource acquisition of Covalent is a perfect example. We had just written about how Covalent was an attractive M&A target, and even though we may have viewed the acquirer, SpringSource, as more of a fellow target, the deal illustrates an interesting approach to the open source opportunity.

Both Covalent CEO Mark Brewer, who with other company executives bought out Covalent’s original investors, and SpringSource CEO Rod Johnson said their deal was not an effort to get dressed up for acquisition. While the combined company will remain an attractive acquisition target to SIs, OS vendors and others …