Memo to Oracle: Don't Mess Up Java

Memo to Oracle: Don’t Mess Up Java

Written by The VAR Guy 1
January 26, 2010

Within 24 hours or so, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison will share his vision for the Oracle-Sun Microsystems business combination. But before the Oracle webcast kicks off, industry rivals and partners are offering a key piece of advice to Ellison: Don't mess up Sun's Java programming language. Here's the scoop -- including perspectives from Red Hat's middleware team.

Within 24 hours or so, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison will share his vision for the Oracle-Sun Microsystems business combination. But before the Oracle webcast kicks off, industry rivals and partners are offering a key piece of advice to Ellison: Don’t mess up Sun’s Java programming language. Here’s the scoop — including perspectives from Red Hat’s middleware team.

Around noon eastern on Jan. 27, Ellison and his lieutenants will host a webcast describing Oracle’s vision for the Oracle-Sun combo. During the event, Oracle says Ellison and others will describe how Oracle will…

Offer a broad range of products including servers, storage, networking, and software
Integrate all the components–hardware, operating system, database, middleware, and applications–for unmatched performance, reliability, and security
Simplify IT management and reduce system deployment and integration costs
Continue to drive innovation in SPARC, Solaris, the Java platform, and many other technologies

When Oracle announced plans to acquire Sun in early 2009, some skeptics expressed concerns about the future of MySQL, Sun’s open source database. Multiple open source pundits expressed their MySQL concerns to the European Union (EU). After months of debate, the EU finally approved the Oracle-Sun combo last week.

Java, Not MySQL, Is the Story

Still, the bigger area of competitive interest may involve Sun’s Java. Just last week, Ingres CEO Roger Burkhardt said potential issues around Java — rather than MySQL — are more strategic to the industry.

And today, Red Hat Middleware VP Craig Muzilla said Red Hat has…

“…high hopes that Oracle will not only serve as a faithful steward of this important technology, but will also be a positive force in driving the future of Java in collaboration with the members of the JCP [the Java Community Process].”

Apparently, Ellison got the message. When Oracle first announced plans to buy Sun, Ellison said Java was “the single most important software asset we have ever acquired.”

The VAR Guy agrees.