Oracle buys Sun!

[Francis Earl]

On Monday 20 April 2009 6:43:04 Bryan O'Neal wrote:
> Larry Ellison, Oracle's chief executive, in a conference call described
> Java as "the single most important software asset we have ever acquired."
> so Java is probably safe

It is an industry standard, and most of Oracles products not related to 
databases uses it extensively, so this statement is certainly perhaps an 
understatement.

> sun hardware and OS will likely get a boost

Well, in as much as it will allow Oracle to be more of a one stop shop. They 
are saying they are still committed to Linux too, so it'll be interesting to 
see where they take Solaris - I have my fingers crossed that they GPL much of 
the code under the CDDL so that Linux can utilize it.

> MySQL is likely to be spun off as a pure community project with corporate
> support. 

Why do you say this? Oracle tried to acquire MySQL straight up for around 
$800million before Sun upped their offer. Obviously they had a plan for it 
back then, they now get to execute that original plan. I'd bet they end up 
offering at the low end database level much as it is now.

> So far they have retained the worst parts of their acquisitions
> culture so I am not sure how well it will work in the long run, but they
> are a juggernaut rite now.

Care to state examples to backup this statement? They certainly are a 
juggernaut, but the rest doesn't really seem founded at all.