OStatic

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.

As Kristin noted this morning, the Wall Street Journal's report that IBM is in talks to buy Sun Microsystems doesn't make the deal a foregone conclusion, but there are a lot of reasons why it's likely to happen. Given the waiting game that Sun has been playing for its open source strategy to pay off, and how perilous that's been for the company, I agree with Kristin that an IBM acquisition may be good news for Sun. Still, Sun is one of only a few public open source companies, and if it's no longer independent, will that be negative for open source?

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that IBM is currently in talks to purchase Sun Microsystems. The acquisition is not a foregone conclusion, due in part to the very different corporate cultures in the companies. Some believe this tension will ultimately help both companies succeed, if they can just get through the talks.

The acquisition could take place as early as this week, and it is speculated that IBM could pay over $6.5 billion for Sun. Sun's recent financials have been more than a little disappointing, and this purchase would take a toll on IBM's profits in the short term. Business isn't solely about the short term, however, and I can't help but agree with the WSJ, CNet's Matt Asay, and at least a few of those involved in the talks that this acquisition would be a positive one for IBM, Sun, and open source in general.

Obama's inauguration must have brought out the optimist in tech journalists. In the last week, Ron Miller and Charles Babcock have written to implore Microsoft to open source Windows. While inspired and with some solid reasoning, I don't think it's going to happen anytime soon. Here's why.

Bob Evans calls out Oracle's ridiculous pricing model over on InformationWeek, but strangely overlooks the pressure from open source.

In Evans' open letter to Larry Ellison, he pleads for Oracle to start negotiating with its customers:

The end of the year is a self-indulgent time, when those who write about technology stop making lists of the best, worst, and most mind-numbingly mediocre applications they find and pause to make lists about tech trends in the upcoming year.

Assessing the past is easy: it has been an interesting year for open source software. Predictions that come to pass, unless suitably vague, just fall into the lucky guess category. The one prediction I am sure of for 2009: Open source software will hold its own when it comes to growth and adoption.

My other predictions? What do you think?

Open source and the bottom line.....

Dell teams with Red Hat on enterprise Linux.....

Nine attitude problems in free and open software.....

Netbooks a challenge and opportunity for Linux.....

Novell and Sun as private companies?.....