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mattyb · Apr 20, 2009, 07:37 AM

Not sure what to make of this.

Oracle were hard core into Linux, guess that thats going to change, again.

rickey939 · Apr 20, 2009, 07:57 AM

The Java free plug-in just went to $500 per PC with no support.

Maflynn · 08:20 AM

I think this may be a better then if IBM had purchased them, plus there may be less of an issue with the them getting approval, if IBM did buy them, then there was going to be monopoly concerns which would have protracted the purchase/approval process leaving sun twisting in wind for a lot longer.

Unfortunately sun never really recovered when the dot com ballon popped and their competitors caught up and surpassed them in a number of areas.

Laminar · Apr 20, 2009, 08:12 AM

Originally Posted by Maflynn

Unfortunately sun never really recovered when the .dot ballon popped and their competitors caught up and surpassed them in a number of areas.

WTF is a .dot balloon?

Maflynn · Apr 20, 2009, 08:19 AM

I think oracle overpaid however, 9.5 a share is a lot of money and given the issues that Sun has, they're paying a premium for not much.

mattyb · Apr 20, 2009, 08:30 AM

Anything that users pay Sun for, will now go up x3 - just like the BEA and Siebel products.

Oracle (the database software) was always heavily tied to SunOS and Solaris before Linux started to get their attention.

Wonder how close together or far apart the corporate mentality is between Sun and Oracle. Couldn't get much different from IBM and Sun.

Maflynn · Apr 20, 2009, 08:42 AM

Oh, I know, we run 10g on solaris but given the fact that the solaris servers are so pricey we're starting to look towards linux servers in their place.

I agree corporate culture wise its probably a much better then then a sun + ibm marriage.

slugslugslug · Apr 20, 2009, 09:00 AM

If there were any kind of monopoly concern with IBM+Sun, wouldn't there be one with Oracle+Sun as well? I mean, isn't mySQL, which Sun bought not too long ago, one of Oracle's primary competitors in the database market?

I guess as long as MS's SQL Server is still around, it's consolidation but not monopoly. I do wonder what'll happen to the free version of mySQL, though, and if a lot of open-source enthusiasts will be freaking out about what to do in case Oracle kills it.

Maflynn · Apr 20, 2009, 09:22 AM

Originally Posted by slugslugslug

If there were any kind of monopoly concern with IBM+Sun, wouldn't there be one with Oracle+Sun as well? I mean, isn't mySQL, which Sun bought not too long ago, one of Oracle's primary competitors in the database market?

The concern was with the unix market, not the database market.

mattyb · Apr 20, 2009, 09:41 AM

Source code for MySQL is freely available here. Take it and develop it - nothing Sun or Oracle can do to stop you - except for using the MySQL name.

MySQL doesn't really compete with Oracle in the OLTP database space. I've heard of lots of Datawarehouse success stories that dumped Oracle for MySQL. I'm not sure where MySQL is in gaining their coveted SAP certification.

I can't see where a buyout would create the need for an investigation. Sun's software isn't exactly their strong point. Maybe Oracle wants more control over Java, maybe they crave the Storagetek stuff. Maybe Larry heard enough from Steve Jobs about important it is to control the software and the hardware.

moep · Apr 20, 2009, 09:45 AM

The database concern is valid too though.

First Oracle bought up InnoDB, now mySQL… next up PostgreSQL?

I wonder what will happen to ZFS now.

shifuimam · Apr 20, 2009, 11:19 AM

Originally Posted by Laminar

WTF is a .dot balloon?

I think he meant the .com bubble.

I really don't think this is necessarily a bad thing. Oracle and Sun specialize in two different IT markets. If anything, the merger could mean better integration of Solaris and Oracle database products.

When Adobe bought out Macromedia, people were flipping out about Macromedia's products like Fireworks going by the wayside. They didn't think about things like how Adobe was able to make their products work a lot better with Macromedia's. I develop ColdFusion web applications for a living, and since the merger, CF8's functionality with PDFs is unbelievable and better than anything I've ever seen - and it's all native to CF without licensing any third-party plugins or modules.

We'll just have to see what Oracle does to take advantage of this partnership.

residentEvil · Apr 20, 2009, 11:27 AM

the writing was on the wall awhile back, i think. the apps sitting on top of our sun/oracle boxes had us do away with jiniator and go all java a year ago. while on the surface, wasn't that big of a deal nor did we think anything about it. now this?

exca1ibur · Apr 20, 2009, 12:39 PM

Originally Posted by shifuimam

When Adobe bought out Macromedia, people were flipping out about Macromedia's products like Fireworks going by the wayside. They didn't think about things like how Adobe was able to make their products work a lot better with Macromedia's. I develop ColdFusion web applications for a living, and since the merger, CF8's functionality with PDFs is unbelievable and better than anything I've ever seen - and it's all native to CF without licensing any third-party plugins or modules.

Adobe pretty much bought Macromedia because it had nothing to compete with Flash, and they had a MUCH better web presence. Adobe was still stick on print only then. They killed Freehand instead of Fireworks then raised prices on everything. Flash performance is still bad on the Mac compared to Windows. We are just now getting and incomplete Intel build of Photoshop. (no 64-bit version) but we sure as hell get no price break on that.

Hello monopoly, gotta love it.

As far as Oracle and Sun, we shall see. Since mySQL is open source it shouldn't be affected. These days you never know though. I'm not to key one this because competition buyouts usually aren't good for the customer.

mattyb · Apr 20, 2009, 02:05 PM

Originally Posted by moep

The database concern is valid too though.

First Oracle bought up InnoDB, now mySQL… next up PostgreSQL?

I wonder what will happen to ZFS now.

Oracle have a very simple way to make you pay a license for their database software, you get the X.1.0.1 for free, and if you want to patch - which sensible people do - then you have to pay Oracle. This gets you Metalink access and there you can download the patches. I can see them doing this to increase revenue from MySQL. I wonder how this fits in with the GPL though.

I can't see any problem with Oracle continuing ZFS. They have OCFS under GPL, I presume that they'd be happy continuing the tech of ZFS.

Oracle, IMH experience, aren't destroyers of good tech. They know when to use a bought product over an in-house developed product when the bought product is better. The thing that I don't like about Oracle is that one day you'll get a bill - sometimes a very large bill - for doing something that was free or very cheap previously. When you look at how much you pay, and you suffer the Oracle Indian support nightmare, then you understand that the money goes on gold taps for Larry's latest yacht and not on making your life as a client of Oracle better.

Laminar · Apr 20, 2009, 05:49 PM

Originally Posted by shifuimam

I think he meant the .com bubble.

mattyb · Apr 22, 2009, 10:17 AM

Learn something every day.

From here.

Maflynn · Apr 22, 2009, 10:39 AM

Originally Posted by mattyb

Learn something every day.
.

Wow, I wonder how life would have been if Sun had bought or merged with apple or even if they adopted the SPARC platform. I have to say that Apple is in a much better position since they went to the intel platform, I don't think the same could be said or imagined if they did go to SPARC

mattyb · May 11, 2009, 03:32 AM

Larry just LOVES Apple doesn't he?

olePigeon · May 11, 2009, 11:58 AM

Originally Posted by mattyb

Larry just LOVES Apple doesn't he?

Ellison is friends with Steve Jobs. Close enough that Jobs was, apparently, Ellison's wedding photographer. He seems to make a lot of comparisons between Oracle and Apple, and probably hates Microsoft more than Jobs does.

olePigeon · May 11, 2009, 12:03 PM

Originally Posted by mattyb

Learn something every day.

The Register was spot on. I liked their little quote at the end, "Well, sure. Unless your iPod is your cell phone."

A year later the iPhone came out. Heh.

olePigeon · May 11, 2009, 12:05 PM

Originally Posted by Maflynn

Wow, I wonder how life would have been if Sun had bought or merged with apple or even if they adopted the SPARC platform. I have to say that Apple is in a much better position since they went to the intel platform, I don't think the same could be said or imagined if they did go to SPARC

In an alternate universe, Apple and Sun merged, then bought BeOS.

That would have been awesome.

mattyb · May 11, 2009, 04:57 PM

Originally Posted by olePigeon

Ellison is friends with Steve Jobs. Close enough that Jobs was, apparently, Ellison's wedding photographer. He seems to make a lot of comparisons between Oracle and Apple, and probably hates Microsoft more than Jobs does.

Wow, that IS close. Never knew that. Ellison the acrobatic airplane flying, mega yacht owning, in debt to banks for millions playboy seems so far removed from Steve Jobs.

The Godfather · May 13, 2009, 06:27 PM

Originally Posted by olePigeon

In an alternate universe, Apple and Sun merged, then bought BeOS.

That would have been awesome.

In that alternate universe, Steve orders the development of the translucent iNext, and the NextPhone is a clone of the iPhone. Apple/Sun monopolizes the graphic design industry with their high performance OS, but misses out on iLife and the iPod.