Given that there are now open source Java application servers available for free, such as the JBoss application server, it would seem that established commercial vendors would have to at least hold the line if not drop the price of their application servers. The spectre of open source competition would put fear into the hearts of these companies, presumably.Well, it aint necessarily so.Oracle recently raised the price of the enterprise edition of Oracle Application Server 10g, bumping it up to $30,000 per processor, from $20,000. And that was done with the existing release of the product, not the upcoming release announced this week. The company argues that it provides much more than an application server. The product now boasts federated identity management, new system management capabilities and software provisioning, functions not there with the $20,000 pricetag.But an analyst expressed surprise that Oracle would hike the price. “Raising prices is always tough,” said John Rymer, vice president of application development and integration at Forrester Research. Some customers may not actually have to pay the price increase, given existing licensing agreements and discounts, Rymer said. Still, any price increase is sure to raise eyebrows among customers, he said. “They have to stop and take a look,” Rymer said. Oracle is the daredevil of the computer industry lately, seeking a hostile takeover of PeopleSoft. Perhaps the price increase just falls in line with the company’s growing image as a risk taker. With users increasingly eyeing open source software alternatives, however, Oracle with its price increase is risking sending its customer base into the waiting arms of other suitors. Technology Industry