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With Oracle/Sun it was pretty inverted...the first year was a huge cash infusion, and if anything Sun hardware projects had greater potential than before. And

With Oracle/Sun it was pretty inverted...the first year was a huge cash infusion, and if anything Sun hardware projects had greater potential than before. And yet, within 5-6 years the entire hardware division imploded. And, meta-comment: this site layout is frustrating on mobile, the text runs off the left/right edges slightly and it refuses to allow pinch/zoom. Sites really need to stop writing code to intentionally screw with readers.

hindsightbias 8y ago
Solaris would still be a major player if IBM had won that acquisition contest. It would have just been another flavor on POWER.
floatboth 8y ago
The Solaris team quit almost immediately though
- cyphar 8y ago
  No, the Solaris team quite almost immediately after the OpenSolaris re-proprietarisation in late-2010[1]. Sun was acquired in 2009. This was fast but not immediate, the reaction was mostly in relation to how Oracle treated OpenSolaris and not the acquisition itself. [1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zRN7XLCRhc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zRN7XLCRhc
blattimwind 8y ago
> And yet, within 5-6 years the entire hardware division imploded. It always seemed to me as-if Sun's hardware folding was just somehow oddly delayed from all the other UNIX RISC players folding around 2000 (because of the unsinkable Itanium and the dotcum burst).
deleted 8y ago
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tonyedgecombe 8y ago
>And yet, within 5-6 years the entire hardware division imploded. I always wonder what would have happened if Apple had bought them.
- protomyth 8y ago
  I would imagine some of the technology would remain, but all their current customers would have been jettisoned. I cannot imagine that the whole Illumos situation would have improved. I also think Java probably would have been dealt to IBM in that agreement a couple of years back. Apple was not shy about telling NeXT customers to take a hike, and they are much bigger now.
- DonHopkins 8y ago
  For decades, I've wondered about this too -- on its face it seems like an intriguing possibility, but deep down I think it was impossible. Reason: Extreme cultural mismatch. Not that they're so different, but because of their overlapping similarities. They would both have wanted to be on top, in the driver's seat, calling the shots. No way they would have gotten along. No mutual respect. Too many clashing egos. Especially during the Jobs years. Oracle's acquisition of Sun was just sad, because they were wiping them out to make them go away, since Sun couldn't swallow their pride earlier and sell out to a company they considered themselves superior to, like IBM or Apple. So their window of opportunity closed, and they got scrapped and devoured by soulless vultures. An acqui-expire.
Spooky23 8y ago
Really? Oracle guys doing conference decks with sailboats cracking jokes about how they accidentally broke EMEA sales and shipping by shutting off a data center on schedule, but before the apps were migrated.
- atesti 8y ago
  Do you have more information about this incidient? It sounds interessting
rst 8y ago
With Oracle/Sun, there was an immediate exodus of some of the top employees, including people in the hardware group. This wouldn't have derailed projects close to shipping, but likely did derail planning for projects after that.

hindsightbias 8y ago

Solaris would still be a major player if IBM had won that acquisition contest. It would have just been another flavor on POWER.

floatboth 8y ago

The Solaris team quit almost immediately though

cyphar 8y ago
No, the Solaris team quite almost immediately after the OpenSolaris re-proprietarisation in late-2010[1]. Sun was acquired in 2009. This was fast but not immediate, the reaction was mostly in relation to how Oracle treated OpenSolaris and not the acquisition itself. [1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zRN7XLCRhc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zRN7XLCRhc

blattimwind 8y ago

> And yet, within 5-6 years the entire hardware division imploded. It always seemed to me as-if Sun's hardware folding was just somehow oddly delayed from all the other UNIX RISC players folding around 2000 (because of the unsinkable Itanium and the dotcum burst).

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tonyedgecombe 8y ago

>And yet, within 5-6 years the entire hardware division imploded. I always wonder what would have happened if Apple had bought them.

protomyth 8y ago
I would imagine some of the technology would remain, but all their current customers would have been jettisoned. I cannot imagine that the whole Illumos situation would have improved. I also think Java probably would have been dealt to IBM in that agreement a couple of years back. Apple was not shy about telling NeXT customers to take a hike, and they are much bigger now.
DonHopkins 8y ago
For decades, I've wondered about this too -- on its face it seems like an intriguing possibility, but deep down I think it was impossible. Reason: Extreme cultural mismatch. Not that they're so different, but because of their overlapping similarities. They would both have wanted to be on top, in the driver's seat, calling the shots. No way they would have gotten along. No mutual respect. Too many clashing egos. Especially during the Jobs years. Oracle's acquisition of Sun was just sad, because they were wiping them out to make them go away, since Sun couldn't swallow their pride earlier and sell out to a company they considered themselves superior to, like IBM or Apple. So their window of opportunity closed, and they got scrapped and devoured by soulless vultures. An acqui-expire.

Spooky23 8y ago

Really? Oracle guys doing conference decks with sailboats cracking jokes about how they accidentally broke EMEA sales and shipping by shutting off a data center on schedule, but before the apps were migrated.

atesti 8y ago
Do you have more information about this incidient? It sounds interessting

rst 8y ago

With Oracle/Sun, there was an immediate exodus of some of the top employees, including people in the hardware group. This wouldn't have derailed projects close to shipping, but likely did derail planning for projects after that.