Two purchases, yet one vision
Who would have thought that on the same day that Oracle finally buys BEA Sun buys MySQL AB. Two totally different purchases for two totally different customers. Yet, both Sun and Oracle have the same strategy in mind.
Instead of fighting the web applications like Google, Facebook, MySpace, et al, they want to provide for them. Sun is taking a page from IBM by supplying the hardware, and the services for that hardware. They don’t want to make the end-user applications — they want to make the platforms those applications are built work better.
Sun is really better positioned for this, because they can supply the hardware. You can built the best web app int the world, but the hardware sucks, so will your app. The MySQL purchase helps them supply services and to make sure that the most popular Open Source database works on their platform.
Oracle is a different beast because they don’t necessarily go the Open Source route. But they bought a struggling maker of a popular Java app server. They, too, show they want to help the next Facebook with their vision. And continuing to help Fortune 500 companies with their data and server needs.
This is all happening because both Sun and Oracle understand that their survival depends on siding with Google and their ilk, not fighting them on their own turf. In other words, Sun and Oracle have seen the enemy and it is Microsoft. They can’t beat MS with applications on the desktop, so they are helping take the applications off the desktop and into the web. And God bless them for it.