OStatic

Mickos letter to EU: Approve Oracle-Sun deal. Former MySQL CEO M?rten Mickos has written a note accusing the EU of doing a disservice to MySQL.

Seeking a Stallman for open source. Who should be the spokesperson?

Oracle OpenWorld to shed light on the company's Java plans. Application development will figure prominently at the conference.

Microsoft and Novell say relationship is exceeding expectations. Microsoft has sold $220 million worth of Suse Linux subscriptions for Novell.

As everyone digests the big news that VMware intends to buy SpringSource for $420 million--its biggest acquisition ever--I'm inclined to think that the move primarily represents a dedicated step from VMware away from just being a virtualization player. As we've discussed before,?VMware has been tightly squeezed by competition from open source and free, bundled virtualization software offerings. Its relatively new CEO Paul Maritz (who was a long time Microsoft executive), knows what it is for proprietary platforms to face free, open source competition, and SpringSource can help VMware compete very directly with Red Hat, particularly in the application server market.

Still, along with Oracle's acquisition of Sun Microsystems, the move from VMware provides yet another example of a smaller company that has retained a strong focus on open source being acquired by a much larger, proprietary competitor. Just before last year ended, we predicted?that open source mergers and acquisitions would increase dramatically this year, but who would have thought that we would see such huge acquisitions? What are the implications for VMware, Red Hat, and open source?

While there have been some questionable strategies playing out on Wall Street recently, and the Securities and Exchange Commission continues to scrutinize the legalities of a few high frequency trading techniques, former NYSE chairman William H. Donaldson's statement to New York Times holds true: if an individual investor can't keep up with larger brokerages, it's a major disadvantage.

Marketcetera feels that open source software is an ideal way for smaller brokerages to keep up with -- and perhaps outmaneuver -- their larger competition. Marketcetera CEO Graham Miller sees open source hosted/SaaS (software as a service) trading platforms as having particular potential for investors using high frequency trading methods. And Miller isn't the only one who believes this -- the evidence is vibrantly illustrated by Sky Road LLC's integration of Marketcetera's open source, automated trading platform into its SaaS financial services product line.

In November, I wrote about Ulteo's Open Virtual Desktop, an open source desktop delivery utility. Simply described, the Ulteo Open Virtual Desktop (OVD) is a browser-based operating system and applications suite that is controlled and configured, ideally, by your organization's systems administrators. This makes managing, working, and collaborating from remote locations possible so long as there is a computer nearby with a Java-enabled browser and internet connection.

This week, Ulteo announced some major updates to its OVD, including the ability to deliver Linux and Windows applications (or a mix of both), Active Directory and LDAP authentication capabilities, several file server options, and collaboration support.

I can safely say when I covered the speculation that IBM and Sun were wrapping up the finer points of the acquisition Friday, I figured that if there was anything left to say come Monday, it would deal with idiosyncracies of the agreed-upon terms. Even though the announcement is imminent reports were not officially sanctioned by IBM or Sun, there was no reason to believe the sources were dishonest about the information they gave. It still doesn't seem there was dishonesty, or that these sources made wildly off-base assumptions about what was to come. It seemed as though IBM's purchase of Sun Microsystems was set to proceed, until late Saturday evening, when IBM and Sun broke off negotiations, according to Bloomberg.

There had been much debate about how an IBM acquisition would affect Sun's open source efforts. As those questions move even further into the hypothetical realm, far more troubling questions loom about Sun's next potential buyer -- or its choice to weather the storm on its own.

According to the New York Times and Bloomberg, IBM's purchase of Sun Microsystems is imminent. The official announcement and terms of the acquisition will most likely be made public on Monday, but a late in the day announcement hasn't been ruled out. It's estimated that the purchase will cost IBM nearly $7 billion.

There's been much speculation and discussion both here at OStatic and elsewhere about what this means for Sun and its open source projects.