Indeed, Fleury said, "I resent the way IBM and BEA tried to characterize this, which proves to what point they were panicked about this rumor. Saying they're trying to sell themselves…"

In short, Fleury said, "The allegation that JBoss had a 'For Sale' sign on it is just false. We've been approached, and we're always evaluating these options. Did we ever go out and tell somebody we wanted to sell? Never! I personally did not try to sell the company. And if anybody did they were not speaking for me."

In addition, Fleury bristled at suggestions that he was just in it for the money. He said even should JBoss merge with a larger company he wants to keep his team and their projects intact.

"One of the criteria of a potential merger is divisional control" for Fleury, because "I'm not going anywhere," he said, meaning that he intends to maintain control of the JBoss core technology and team.

"Had this been 1999 we'd have been public three years ago," Fleury said. "We are the product of the nuclear winter of IT," and it is harder for a startup to go public now, he said. However, JBoss will start "showing our numbers soon," because the company is organizing as if to go public, he said.

Asked if there is a "magic number" at which JBoss would sell, Fleury said there is no particular number, particularly if the situation is not right. He will not sell for the sake of selling.

However, in terms of a valuation for the company, he said. "Look at Red Hat's numbers and apply that [formula] to our numbers and you'll have a valuation," Fleury said, adding, "And very soon we're going to be too expensive for anybody."

Fleury would not comment on any talks with Oracle or whether or how they may be ongoing or have broken down.

However, he quipped: "You can send an e-mail to marcfleury@oracle.com and see what would happen. It will bounce."

This article was originally published on eWEEK.com.