by guestblogger “Beardy” 
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hmmmm… Oracle buy Sun…. that’s a good synergy but a significant departure for Oracle unless they plan to asset/IP-strip Sun of it’s hardware division….
To the best of my knowledge, this is Oracle’s first foray into the world of enterprise hardware (or any hardware for that matter)…. will they try and continue Sun’s model for that division, forcibly impose the software business model on it, or just cut it out and sell off the division in whole or in part ?
For the software biz, it makes excellent sense…. First Oracle bought InnoDB forcing MySQL to change tack slightly to ensure “freedom”… then Sun bought MySQL… now Oracle buys Sun and gets MySQL into the bargain…. that gives them an extra stream in the DB space and more importantly buys Oracle some (not much, but some) street cred in the OpenSource heartland…. plus they get to push IBM around since Big Blue has such a deep involvement in Java, now Oracle owns the Java core IP they can make PlebLogic, oops, sorry, “WebLogic” even more entrenched over WebSphere with defacto endorsement as the owners of the Java core.
What this all means for OpenOffice is a good question though…. Oracle ditched their own ambitions for an Office-type suite years ago, but now they own one that does have a user base and a level of respectability. Will they continue a product in a market area they have previously dodged or will they put it in the “too hard” basket and push it out for the slow lingering death of an unsupported OSS project ? Admittedly, Larry Ellison (Oracle) has been a long-time antagonist of Bill Gates (Microsoft), so it is entirely possible that Oracle will see this as their chance to punch MS while they are against the ropes in this tight economic climate.
While some may disagree, grabbing Solaris is a huge bonus for Oracle…. let’s face it, “Oracle Linux” really didn’t convince anybody and naming their core DB product as “Unbreakable” is just an invitation for a beating…. With the acquisition of Sun, they have gained a widely respected *NIX OS in 2 variants (Solaris and OpenSolaris) across almost every conceivable platform. Oracle’s flagship product works quite nicely on Solaris on Sun gear, so this is a double-boost in the same way that DB2 sells AIX sells POWER and can deploy Java on WebSphere…. OracleDB could sell Solaris and sell SPARC/Opteron and deploy Java on WebLogic making for an inherent “single vendor makes buying simpler” scenario…. Of course they have to be very careful not to cause loss of OracleDB sales (and more importantly ongoing license and support agreements and consulting services)…. Never forget that both companies are now in the megascale region with divisions covering everything from bare metal silicon up to enterprise hardware and software and onwards to application development tools and consulting services….
The Register article makes many of the same points… http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/04/20/oracle_eats_sun/…. plus the important point I missed that neither HP nor Microsoft now can compete on the same full range of business solutions and services….
If Oracle can make the Sun hardware division a viable division within the larger Oracle portfolio will be the test of whether Oracle bought the company for the huge pool of IP and patents or whether they bought it just so they could pick the eyes out of it (Java, Solaris and OpenOffice)….. or as an asset stripping exercise to sell off the company in pieces to turn a quick profit… A hint of the future would be if Oracle decides to rebrand the Sun products as plain “Oracle” or “Sun, An Oracle Company” to leverage brand recognition…. announcements made 6 months from now when the dust settles will likely answer many questions…
The Register’s views on the acquisition:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/04/20/oracle_eats_sun/
Sun’s website providing info on the acquisition:
http://www.sun.com/third-party/global/oracle/index.jsp