Management backing / trust / support
and I mean your/my management, not IBM/Oracle's ..
We all tend to trust more what we know (a very successfull survival strategy). Management types more often encounter DB2/Oracle than a free DB at the functions they attend (Telco with the company I work for). Naturally they will lean towards the better known products.
I know this has changed much in recent years as MySql, PostgreSQL and other more open/less costly products get mentioned in (management/business) news articles and used successfully in critcal systems...
Update: I've set the community wiki flag since you now say you are looking for technical information, which my answer definitely isn't.