Yes, Sun is acquiring MySQL for $1 billion. But Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz isn’t done modernizing his company. Not by a long shot. The VAR Guy isn’t ready to predict which company Sun will acquire next, but he has noticed Schwartz getting pretty darn cozy with two fast-growing open source businesses.
Indeed, Schwartz is scheduled to be a keynote presenter February 6 at SugarCON, a customer and developer conference hosted by SugarCRM. Separately, Sun apparently is the top sponsor for UbuntuLive, a July 2008 conference for organizations running or deploying Canonical’s Ubuntu Linux.
This is a critical time for Sun in the open source market. Schwartz must convince application providers that MySQL will remain a vibrant database that works closely with ISVs. By headlining SugarCON this year (he was a surprise guest last year), Schwartz can connect with a core audience of CRM and database developers.
Schwartz also provides a critical counter-balance to Microsoft at the SugarCRM event. Microsoft is among SugarCON’s Platinum sponsors. Steve Ballmer and Co. is seeking to position Windows Server 2008 as the best platform for running open source applications. Microsoft’s ultimate goal is to ensure the LAMP software stack has a thriving Windows alternative, known as WAMP within some circles.
Hello, Ubuntu
Meanwhile, Sun’s open source interests aren’t limited to the application or database layers. The company, for instance, continues to take embrace Ubuntu, the Linux offering that has gained considerable desktop momentum and is now seeking similar clout on servers. In addition to sponsoring this summer’s UbuntuLive conference in Portland, Oregon, Sun insiders are blogging frequently about Ubuntu, and interviewing Canonical executives about Ubuntu’s evolution.
One prime example: Barton George oversees Sun’s relationships with the various GNU/Linux communities as well as Sun’s relationship with the FSF. His blog frequently focuses on Ubuntu, and he interviewed Ubuntu Server Lead Rick Clark in January. But Sun is giving Ubuntu more than lip service. Several Sun servers are certified to run Ubuntu Linux.
If The VAR Guy actually made any money from this blog, he’d be willing to bet that Sun is working on deeper relationships with Canonical and SugarCRM. For Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz, buying MySQL for $1 billion was only one step in an ambitious open source strategy.
The Real Winner In All This
The big winner in the Windows vs. Linux debate (and the Microsoft SQL Server vs. Sun MySQL debate, for that matter) continues to be open source application developers like SugarCRM.
John Roberts, CEO of SugarCRM, affirms that his company enjoys strong success on both Windows Server and Linux. In addition to building relationships with Sun and Microsoft, Roberts remains focused on long-term IPO (initial public offering) strategy for SugarCRM.
I’ve long said that the best thing Sun could do is give up on Solaris/OpenSolaris as it currently is, and instead build Solaris from Debian, just as Canonical build ubuntu from Debian.
Unlike most Debian derivatives they’d also be a major upstream supplier too, providing the Solaris Kernel, ZFS, MySQL, OpenOffice, Java etc etc.
Just think, you could get “New Solaris” for AMD64 or SPARC, with a Linux or Solais Kernel, a full and modern Debian userland with all the bells + some Enterprise grade apps and support only from Sun.
There is no point in Sun engineers wasting time/money porting the latest version of Bash to Solaris, it adds no value. It’s much more useful to pay them to do the hard stuff like the Solaris Kernel or ZFS, then let the vast Debian community automatically build and assemble a base distribution. Finally like Canonical do, snap-shot Debian GNU/Solaris Sid every 6 months to build a new release.
Donating a few SPARC/AMD64 boxes to the Debian community is cheap if you are Sun, and they have done this in the past. All they need to do is stop messing about and make the kernel and other good stuff legally compatible with the Debian userland and it’s a win-win situation. Debian gets an alternative kernel and some new toys to play with, and Sun get the best distribution to build Solaris from…
The one important factor missing from comments made by Adam Trickett, is that Sun would to cultivate a better attitude and policies – within Sun and with the Free/Open Source Software (FOSS) community as a “participant and good corporate citizen” rather than the percieved impression of them (still) as a “controlling, strictly self-serving” parasite of FOSS.
More time and effort along the present lines of action will convince most skeptics of their “true” positive motives and plans.
Products can not achieve such necessary requirements.
“I’ve long said that the best thing Sun could do is give up on Solaris/OpenSolaris as it currently is, and instead build Solaris from Debian, just as Canonical build ubuntu from Debian.”
You mean like Nexenta:
http://www.nexenta.org/os
Indeed Nexenta and others are sort of what I mean, however unlike these failed/dead project I mean for it to fully embrace the Debian community.
Most of the Debian GNU/Solaris prjects have stalled because they are in a grey legal area and a lot of people who are interested have stayed away until things get sorted out.
Story added…
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http://www.fsdaily.com/Business/Sun_s_Next_Two_Open_Source_Moves…
[...] “Yes, Sun is acquiring MySQL for $1 billion. But Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz isn’t done modernizing his company. Not by a long shot. The VAR Guy isn’t ready to predict which company Sun will acquire next, but he has noticed Schwartz getting pretty darn cozy with two fast-growing open source businesses.Indeed, Schwartz is scheduled to be a keynote presenter February 6 at SugarCON, a customer and developer conference hosted by SugarCRM. Separately, Sun apparently is the top sponsor for UbuntuLive, a July 2008 conference for organizations running or deploying Canonical’s Ubuntu Linux.” – Article [...]
I love Sun. They’ve done more to invest in real open source innovation than
[...] Sun has signed on to sponsor Ubuntu Live, an industry conference for the operating system that will be held this July in Portland, Oregon. [...]
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