Firebird and other Open-Source Databases getting attention

Enterprises Warming Up to Firebird Open-Source Database is an article on EWeek that summarizes a recent survey by Evans Data Corp. Among the findings:

• Of those surveyed, 23 percent of developers picked Firebird for use in "edge" databases—in other words, those that are embedded in systems or in devices, such as a point-of-sale system in a retail outlet or a network device. Runners-up included Microsoft Corp.'s Access, at 21 percent, and Microsoft's SQL Server, at 13 percent.
  
• McKendrick said that the survey overall showed open-source databases as having made deep inroads into the enterprise since Evans first started surveying their use, about three years ago. At that time, about 12 percent of respondents were tinkering with open-source databases—a percentage that's up to 60 percent now.
  
• Desire to leverage XML access to databases is very high.
  

Firebird is based on the sourcecode from a Borland product, Interbase, and has some mature features (including triggers, stored proedures, ACID compliance, etc.) Here's a history. I don't know much else about Firebird...