Oracle to Counter Microsoft by Buying Sun
As president of Paradigma Software with its columnar database technology Valentina, I would like to think that the announced acquisition of Sun By Oracle is about the database market and a response to innovation in the field of databases. Indirectly, I think it is, but it isn’t about the recent acquisition of MySQL by Sun. More so, it is about Oracle’s big iron position in the computer industry and what it learned from the failed shopping trip by IBM.
Oracle hasn’t been shy about acquiring open source databases, such as it did with SleepyCat – Sleepy Cat’s CEO even said it was acquired to be a counter to MySQL in 2005. Since that time though, it has also invested in both deployment on Linux and in Java development as a means to deliver database applications. With OpenSolaris and the opening of Java, Sun made a brave attempt to make push its operating system in front of the open source crowd. We may never know what would have happened if IBM had acquired Sun, but you can be certain that Larry Ellision and his friends had a few ideas and didn’t like what they came up with. With the Sun acquisition, Oracle now has control over a cross-platform application deployment system as well as an extremely stable operating system – both items that counter Microsoft more than IBM.
I am sure the few remaining employees from MySQL that haven’t left Sun already will have more to think about – that is, the ones that didn’t follow Michael Widenius, the original creator of the MySQL database system, out the door. According to Monty, Sun rushed out MySQL 5.1 – a typical business tactic to pull in as much revenue as possible after splurging $1 billion to acquire MySQL.
