01.18.2008
Oracle and Sun - Two software paths that converge
Sun may be the more modern one, but Oracle has found a sure-fire formula
for near-term profit. And in some ways both have figured out how to
emulate IBM.
By David Kirkpatrick, senior editor
NEW YORK (Fortune) -- Oracle and Sun both made impressive acquisitions
of software companies this week. For its part, Oracle in buying BEA
Systems is making the last great stand for licensed software - old
school stuff customers buy and install themselves.
It's retrograde, but highly lucrative and canny for Larry Ellison,
Oracle's pragmatic CEO. But in no way does the strategy's success
undercut one of the fundamental trends in software - to a
service-delivered model over the Net.
Meanwhile, Sun is staking its claim on the other massive trend in
software - open source. MySQL, the company it bought, is tiny by
revenues but huge by influence. Over 100 million copies of MySQL's
open-source database software code have been downloaded for free since
the product was first released in May 1995. Tens of thousands of
businesses rely on MySQL's software.
...
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1 comment:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/jan/21/sun.mysql?gusrc=rss&feed=technology
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