Sound off with your thoughts on Oracle's acquisition of Sun Microsystems here!

Personally.... I think Sun WAS a company with huge potential, huge cash on hand and the ability to out think everyone.

Then, it fell apart and the LOST it all. While I don't like it... Sun KILLED THEMSELVES... Sun had everything except the ability to execute on a vision... well, arguably, they lack a vision to execute on.

I'm just glad they opened the Solaris source before it happened. Maybe they figured something was coming; not really that unexpected with how(and what) they've been doing.

Beyond that, well, Java's failed to take over the world for a very long time now, so Sun's just been selling Sun-branded Opteron servers lately, anyone can do that. It does make me wonder what'll become of Sun Java though. If Oracle tries to turn it into some sort of cash cow(more than it is already, I mean; let's see how many more opt-out explorer toolbars they can cram in to the default install) it could be the final nail in its coffin.

I don't want to believe it myself but sun has really lost a lot of market share, it used to be in the 90's one could see sun installations everywhere, today many sites already ported over to HP or IBM or switched to wintel or worse vm servers. VM servers will the nail in the coffin that will doom sys admins everywhere. But anyway I'm seeling less of sun than I used to. I'm thinking sun is very lucky they acquired mysql recently.

Mysql is built like oracle, a lot of commands in mysql resemble oracle. Why would oracle want to continue to distribute mysql for free and lose their own market share? Doesn't make any sense I got a feeling one of the reasons why oracle buys sun is to kill mysql later on.

They'll have a real hard time putting the cat back in the bag, it'd be like Novell trying to recall Linux.

I think it's a strange tie up.

Not least because the only software Oracle would want from Sun is Java; and because Oracle doesn't make hardware.

We already have Unbreakable-Oracle, based on Red Hat, I think, and Solaris is unquestionably the most reliable, robust operating system on the planet, but I just (very sadly) don't see a future for Solaris, and I don't know why a tie-up with Oracle would either change their (Oracle's) roadmap, or swing the general way of things amongst consumers that Linux was not the way ahead.

Bad management has brought Sun almost to its knees - the OpenSource experminent hasn't worked (at least not in the way Sun intended it) and they're losing market share.

I'm not against the tie-up (and who would listen if I was?) but I just don't see how it will work... but time will tell...

In any case, the OS will have a fan-base forever, probably, and when it's really open - as opposed to now, where it isn't. it could prosper again.

This merger is a good thing in my opinion.
Here is why:
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Monopoly-like dominancies in IT market are our reality today.

If you open your eyes, you will see, that you do not have the choice
between OpenSource everywhere and some commercial IT companies.
Not in commercial IT (which is where IT industry gets the money from,
to pay for research and development).

You only have the choice between N big companies or N+1.
I always prefer N+1, because every new big player against IBM and Microsoft (or HP in the server market) is welcome.

Without the merger it will be N-1 (Sun will not survive).

I think the example of DEC should be a warning to us all. The formerly most innovative IT company has been sold to a
boring PC vendor (Compaq) which in turn has been sold to an even more boring convenience store (HP).
The result is that IT customers choose mostly between IBM, HP only in server market and between MS and IBM in appserver market and so on.

This is not enough, because thus the best or most innovative products are rarely choosen.
No boost of knowledge, no further development, and so on.
Like these Windows Desktops, everywhere you look.