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Oracle Slated To Buy Sun
By Savio Rodrigues
Expert Author
Article Date: 2009-04-21
The AP is reporting that Oracle will buy Sun shares for $9.50/share, $0.10 higher than IBM's reported offer which fell through. The deal is expected to close in this summer.
Oracle estimates that Sun will contribute more than $1.5 billion & $2 billion to Oracle's profits in the first two years respectively.
This will be very interesting. I guess Oracle didn't have enough on their hands with integrating BEA's middleware suite! It'll be very interesting to see what Oracle does with Sun's hardware assets. I suspect that they'll sell those assets off. But I guess time will tell.
A few readers have begun to worry about the fate of MySQL. This deal will be a test case for the actual freedoms of users when an open source product gets acquired. Yes, there is an opportunity to fork the code if users aren't happy with the acquiring vendor's actions in the user community or with the product in question. But what's the customer value of a splintered community? And up against the resources of an Oracle, can MapleSyrup Inc., the leading providers of support for MySQL in Canada, really stand a chance? Methinks no.
More to come…
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About the Author:
Savio Rodrigues is a product manager with IBM's WebSphere Software division. He envisions a day when open source and traditional software live in harmony. This site contains Savio's personal views. IBM does not necessarily agree with the views expressed here.
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