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Oracle acquiring Sun. I know there is a lot of Oracle hate but: MySQL, GraalVM (Java), Sun hardware (both Exa* and SPARC), VirtualBox and many more technologie

Oracle acquiring Sun. I know there is a lot of Oracle hate but: MySQL, GraalVM (Java), Sun hardware (both Exa* and SPARC), VirtualBox and many more technologies are better today than prior. The challenge Sun would have had, regardless of Oracle or not, is that they were solidly in the On-Prem business ... and the market has moved to Cloud.

silvestrov 4y ago
The Java language has improved a lot since Oracle took over. It started to languish at Sun, like they didn't want to put any effort into it.
jedberg 4y ago
Lol talk to anyone who was there and they would tell you that Oracle absolutely destroyed Sun.
- alberth 4y ago
  I was there. Nothing destroyed. Just differences in company culture. The alternative for Sun was IBM to buy them. An acquisition by IBM would have been the death of Sun. Sun, under Oracle, still lives on well today.
  - pforret 4y ago
    Wasn’t Google interested? It would have given them tons of IP and might have saved them from the law suits Oracle brought over Android.
    - alberth 4y ago
      The only formal offer came from IBM, and then Oracle came in higher. https://abcnews.go.com/amp/Technology/story?id=7395780&page=1 https://abcnews.go.com/amp/Technology/story?id=7395780&page=...
    - jsiaajdsdaa 4y ago
      Google also buys a ton of StorageTek.
  - nibbleshifter 4y ago
    > Just differences in company culture Which is what this thread is largely about.
    - alberth 4y ago
      Then the question is completed flawed, because the actual question then is "what are some examples of companies being acquired with the same corporate culture". Because a # of the examples given are parent companies just leaving the acquired company alone in isolation. How is that good for either the acquirer or the consumers. No synergies can be had if the two companies are operating independently.
      - nibbleshifter 4y ago
        The question was pretty poorly worded IMO, but its an important one. Usually when a company is acquired, certain unique (and attractive) features of its company culture die pretty fast. These can be measurable things eg: PTO policies, imposing certain dev environments/corp machine policies on devs, bonus structures, conference/training allowances, frequency and structure of meetings, etc. Or these can be more vague things, like shifts in how internal comms work, the death of informal means of resolving issues, incremental shifts in management style, etc. The last acquisition I went through (as an employee of the acquired company) resulted in about half of my team leaving pretty quick. The acquirer basically took away all the perks that made working there worthwhile (compared to any given competitor). If my current employer was to be acquired, I'm willing to bet that the entire staff of the business unit I'm part of will be looking for new jobs, as I doubt the acquirer would be giving us the degree of freedom that we have currently.
creshal 4y ago
Even on the remaining on-prem market, who's still using MySQL over MariaDB or Postgres? Who's using SPARC over X64? Who's using Virtualbox over HyperV, Libvirt or VMWare?
- linksnapzz 4y ago
  Enough people so that it's profitable.
- nibbleshifter 4y ago
  > Who's using SPARC over X64? A lot of telecoms stuff. > Who's using Virtualbox over HyperV, Libvirt or VMWare? A considerable number of people who want an open source virtualization solution that is relatively painless to use (so, not libvirt).
- ipaddr 4y ago
  More people are using MySQL over mariaDB and postgres install base is a fraction of mysql.
carimura 4y ago
I wasn't at Sun but am on the Java team now at Oracle. I'm constantly amazed by the inventor culture that Sun had, the people who came from there, and the legacy it has produced, but we all know how the business ended. That's no environment for a world-changing development platform to thrive. It took a few years to find its footing, but Oracle has really given Java the space and resources to thrive. The roadmap is fuller than it ever has been and the release cadence continues to deliver value. Check out projects Amber, Loom, Panama, Valhalla. Tap into the stream of Inside.java. Exciting times. Point being, I believe Java is a datapoint for successful product acquisition.

silvestrov 4y ago

The Java language has improved a lot since Oracle took over. It started to languish at Sun, like they didn't want to put any effort into it.

jedberg 4y ago

Lol talk to anyone who was there and they would tell you that Oracle absolutely destroyed Sun.

alberth 4y ago
I was there. Nothing destroyed. Just differences in company culture. The alternative for Sun was IBM to buy them. An acquisition by IBM would have been the death of Sun. Sun, under Oracle, still lives on well today.
- pforret 4y ago
  Wasn’t Google interested? It would have given them tons of IP and might have saved them from the law suits Oracle brought over Android.
  - alberth 4y ago
    The only formal offer came from IBM, and then Oracle came in higher. https://abcnews.go.com/amp/Technology/story?id=7395780&page=1 https://abcnews.go.com/amp/Technology/story?id=7395780&page=...
  - jsiaajdsdaa 4y ago
    Google also buys a ton of StorageTek.
- nibbleshifter 4y ago
  > Just differences in company culture Which is what this thread is largely about.
  - alberth 4y ago
    Then the question is completed flawed, because the actual question then is "what are some examples of companies being acquired with the same corporate culture". Because a # of the examples given are parent companies just leaving the acquired company alone in isolation. How is that good for either the acquirer or the consumers. No synergies can be had if the two companies are operating independently.
    - nibbleshifter 4y ago
      The question was pretty poorly worded IMO, but its an important one. Usually when a company is acquired, certain unique (and attractive) features of its company culture die pretty fast. These can be measurable things eg: PTO policies, imposing certain dev environments/corp machine policies on devs, bonus structures, conference/training allowances, frequency and structure of meetings, etc. Or these can be more vague things, like shifts in how internal comms work, the death of informal means of resolving issues, incremental shifts in management style, etc. The last acquisition I went through (as an employee of the acquired company) resulted in about half of my team leaving pretty quick. The acquirer basically took away all the perks that made working there worthwhile (compared to any given competitor). If my current employer was to be acquired, I'm willing to bet that the entire staff of the business unit I'm part of will be looking for new jobs, as I doubt the acquirer would be giving us the degree of freedom that we have currently.

creshal 4y ago

Even on the remaining on-prem market, who's still using MySQL over MariaDB or Postgres? Who's using SPARC over X64? Who's using Virtualbox over HyperV, Libvirt or VMWare?

linksnapzz 4y ago
Enough people so that it's profitable.
nibbleshifter 4y ago
> Who's using SPARC over X64? A lot of telecoms stuff. > Who's using Virtualbox over HyperV, Libvirt or VMWare? A considerable number of people who want an open source virtualization solution that is relatively painless to use (so, not libvirt).
ipaddr 4y ago
More people are using MySQL over mariaDB and postgres install base is a fraction of mysql.

carimura 4y ago

I wasn't at Sun but am on the Java team now at Oracle. I'm constantly amazed by the inventor culture that Sun had, the people who came from there, and the legacy it has produced, but we all know how the business ended. That's no environment for a world-changing development platform to thrive. It took a few years to find its footing, but Oracle has really given Java the space and resources to thrive. The roadmap is fuller than it ever has been and the release cadence continues to deliver value. Check out projects Amber, Loom, Panama, Valhalla. Tap into the stream of Inside.java. Exciting times. Point being, I believe Java is a datapoint for successful product acquisition.