3 ms·

from TFA: "Oracle claims Google was in such a rush in the mid-2000s to create an operating system for mobile devices that the company used key parts of copyrigh

from TFA: "Oracle claims Google was in such a rush in the mid-2000s to create an operating system for mobile devices that the company used key parts of copyrighted Java technology without paying royalties. " If this is true, it certainly isnt happening again. Google dominates smartphones and could very easily decide to phase out java for go/rust, torpedoing whatever rent-seeking strategy Oracle had originally devised. What oracle is attempting to do is nothing short of what Microsoft tried to do with TomTom's implementation of FAT. If BTRFS, percona, and maria are any indication its not the work that matters. Plenty of talented engineers are willing to devote their time and effort to avoiding Oracle. Quite frankly the Oracle Database has turned into a manacle for Ellison. Unable to prevent its inevitable loss to open source alternatives through NDA agreements that prohibit public release of independent Oracle performance tests, and unable to convince cloud-bound companies to continue forking out high dollar per-core licenses for it, The software exists as a 90s anachronism to the hubris of dotcom. Oracle Enterprise Linux was, for all its intentions, a flop, and after acquisition and rebranding MySQL is a withered husk compared to its open source counterparts.

mschuster91 9y ago
> The software exists as a 90s anachronism to the hubris of dotcom. The point is that in BigCo environments the norm still is "no one ever got fired for buying IBM and Oracle" and even if that were not true shitloads of enterprise crapware are bound to Oracle's offerings and that alone will secure revenue for Oracle for decades to come. Hell when I look at the average age of stuff in the banking and insurance sector I would not be surprised if Oracle is still going strong in a century.
s73v3r_ 9y ago
"If this is true, it certainly isnt happening again. Google dominates smartphones and could very easily decide to phase out java for go/rust, torpedoing whatever rent-seeking strategy Oracle had originally devised." Because wanting to be paid for one's work is "rent-seeking" now? And no, Google really couldn't. There's a huge library of Android applications that are using Java technologies to make them. Google can't replace Java with go/rust/dart without throwing all that away. They would have to continue to provide support, which would continue to put them in violation.
- monocasa 9y ago
  Just because you worked on something doesn't mean you get a perpetual government enforced monopoly on it.
  - s73v3r_ 9y ago
    And just because you want something doesn't mean you deserve it for free.
saas_co_de 9y ago
> torpedoing whatever rent-seeking strategy Oracle had originally devised They will get damages for everything that has already happened if they win, which is more than zero, so they do have a clear profit motive. Oracle gains nothing by having Android use Java so if they force Google to use something else it doesn't matter to them.

mschuster91 9y ago

> The software exists as a 90s anachronism to the hubris of dotcom. The point is that in BigCo environments the norm still is "no one ever got fired for buying IBM and Oracle" and even if that were not true shitloads of enterprise crapware are bound to Oracle's offerings and that alone will secure revenue for Oracle for decades to come. Hell when I look at the average age of stuff in the banking and insurance sector I would not be surprised if Oracle is still going strong in a century.

s73v3r_ 9y ago

"If this is true, it certainly isnt happening again. Google dominates smartphones and could very easily decide to phase out java for go/rust, torpedoing whatever rent-seeking strategy Oracle had originally devised." Because wanting to be paid for one's work is "rent-seeking" now? And no, Google really couldn't. There's a huge library of Android applications that are using Java technologies to make them. Google can't replace Java with go/rust/dart without throwing all that away. They would have to continue to provide support, which would continue to put them in violation.

monocasa 9y ago
Just because you worked on something doesn't mean you get a perpetual government enforced monopoly on it.
- s73v3r_ 9y ago
  And just because you want something doesn't mean you deserve it for free.

saas_co_de 9y ago

> torpedoing whatever rent-seeking strategy Oracle had originally devised They will get damages for everything that has already happened if they win, which is more than zero, so they do have a clear profit motive. Oracle gains nothing by having Android use Java so if they force Google to use something else it doesn't matter to them.