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For some days now it’s been speculated that IBM would purchase Sun Microsystems. However the news today that Sun is to be purchased by Oracle has far greater consequences than an IBM / Sun merger.
For a start Sun is a hardware manufacturer with a range of UNIX servers that target corporate IT infrastructure. Oracle, on the other hand, has no experience with box production and the corporate merger landscape is littered with companies that merged into areas they were not familiar with and came down to earth with a bump as a result. I would expect Oracle to hive off the hardware arm of Sun as a separate (and loss making?) business after which IBM can pick over the bones.
The rest of Sun Microsystems is a different prospect for Oracle. Sun own Java, the programming language and runtime that’s become pretty ubiquitous over the last ten years and can now be found on a huge range of every day devices from mobile phones, cars, washing machines; just about anything that needs a control system. Just how Oracle views Java could have far reaching consequences in a huge variety of market places.
Then there’s Sun’s other Open Source product set including the competitor for Microsoft Office; Open Office.org. Open Office has got to the point where it’s a serious alternative to the (very expensive) Office suite from Microsoft, and it won’t cost you a dime. Sun has been providing supporting services (if not hard cash) to the development of Open Office.org. Now I don’t know how much of a sink hole this has been for Sun; but it would be a great pity if Oracle abandon these efforts rather than continuing to promote and support development.
The MySQL database is another big question mark for Oracle. Purchased by Sun a few years ago MySQL could be seen as a direct competitor to Oracle’s database products, again at a fraction of the price. Removing MySQL from the market place could have been a big incentive for Oracle to purchase Sun. However the enterprise version of MySQL is only one part of the equation; the other part is what happens to the community version. For years now this has been the bedrock of many of the innovative open source projects that have made cloud computing what it is today. If Oracle should stop supporting the community edition of MySQL it will leave a huge hole in the open source development effort.
Down the line I predict this take over could have far reaching consequences for the shape of the IT industry. Let us know what your views are in the comments below..
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