When I heard the news of Oracle suing Google over some Intellectual Property rights for the Android’s Java Virtual Machine, namely Dalvik, I was shocked and enraged. I could not prevent my hatred for Oracle from growing. It was a sad day for the open source industry though it had long begun with the acquisition of Sun Microsystems. On the surface, the takeover seemed to be aimed at the server hardware (Sparc) and its accompanying software, Unix-based Solaris (another open source operating system). But the fact that Sun Microsystems is a major contributor of open source software ranging from programming language, Java (created with the noble idea of portability and distributed as free as it promised to be: it’s compiler is freely available until recently when Oracle requires you to register in order to perform a download), office application bundle, OpenOffice, virtualization software (which allows you to install different operating systems on 1 host operating system), VirtualBox to database software, MySQL, Oracle’s newly added possession had provided itself a dimension in the software industry.
Of course, Oracle did not start off selling software for free. It almost monopolized or rather dominated the database industry for a length of time that was or is still sufficient for it to accumulate great wealth and resources. It then tried to adapt to the changing face of the industry. The attack of Linux was too huge to be ignored. Oracle quickly ported its key product to Linux and due to Linux’s licensing policy, Oracle was forced to open up some of the sources and labeled them as open source software. However, it was a gamble that paid off (the use of Linux in servers increased) and hence strengthening Oracle’s belief in open source.
Personally, I always have felt that the future of database is a rather bleak one. I mean, the idea of database itself is no longer new. I used to study database systems in school and learnt there are basically 3 types of database: relational, object-oriented and hybrid (both relational and object-oriented). I can’t deny that there are ongoing activities on how to improve the speed of data access (maybe via better indexing), the reliability of data storage and retrieval, and management of ever increasing data size. The point is what you can do or enhance are pretty much trapped within the box.
For this reason, I could empathize Oracle’s continuous, aggressive moves in the takeover business. In one sense, it seems Oracle has given up developing their own products or making new product innovations. It just relied the acquired businesses to boost its revenues and tapped on their technological talents to create products of the tomorrow. To put it plainly, Oracle is just using money to make more money.
I never thought that Sun is going to be acquired by any company. I always felt that it is self sufficient (with the Java licensing). Though it cannot grow into giants like IBM, HP, Dell or even Oracle, it is already a great company with products that change the lives of many PC users. Java is like a disease that spreads so widely and for so long. It definitely does not pale in the competition with Linux for the adoption of open source software. In fact, it has reached areas that Linux can’t even have access to. With its newly acquired technologies, MySQL and VirtualBox, Sun seems to position itself quite well in the industry. However, the truth is Sun is constantly searching for its direction. It is locked within the two domains of both hardware and software. Unlike IBM, it can’t shake off its hardware unit and concentrate on its software (which is not earning much for Sun). Declining hardware business simply imply that Sun had to find an antidote fast and suddenly IBM came into the picture.
For what has happened today, I have to attribute part of this to IBM. Yes, thanks to their strategic hindsight, Oracle has obtained what it has long wished for. If not for IBM, I seriously don’t think the executives at Sun would consider the option of selling the company. Perhaps they were tired after so many years of struggling to find the right way. They had changed enough top guy to have a sense that nothing is working great. IBM makes the perfect match to the marriage, likewise, a strong open source contributor with strong financial backing. If Sun is with IBM now, Java is deemed to be free for life.
I guess this is what life is all about: villains or powerful barons with monetary rights took possessions of something of great value to all and re-offered these valuables at much higher prices with the single-mindedness of bagging all the benefits to themselves. Shame on you and those that played a part in making this happen. I believe the souls of those in Sun had been wrongly sold. For a mere 7.4 billion, our freedom in the software world have been compromised.
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