Oracle-Sun: IBM surprised, Ballmer speechless
Summary
When reporters caught up with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer in Moscow, the man who is rarely at a loss for words, didn't exactly have a sound byte at the ready.
Topics
Reporters caught up with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer in Moscow to get his take on Oracle's deal to buy Sun Microsystems for $7.4 billion.
But apparently Ballmer, who is rarely at a loss for words, didn't exactly have a sound byte at the ready.
"I need to think about it," Ballmer told reporters in Moscow, according to Reuters. "I am very surprised."
I'm hearing that Ballmer wasn't the only one surprised by Monday's deal. According to a source of mine, IBM hadn't given up on purchasing Sun and was blindsided by Oracle's move.
Oracle is, of course, one of Microsoft's chief rivals in the database and business applications space--a fact that Ballmer highlighted in an interview in February. Sun is also a longtime rival, although the two companies have had a technology partnership in recent years stemming from their settlement of legal hostilities back in 2004.
I imagine we'll hear far more from Ballmer and Microsoft in the coming days and weeks.
This article was originally posted on CNET News.
Talkback Most Recent of 17 Talkback(s)
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I am sure everyone was surprised
does not mean that the impact will be significant, just that people where surprised, nothing more.
GuidingLight20th Apr 2009 -
well not the way i see it
Oracle could use MYsql as nice way to hurt office database none sense ....
Also Open-solaris /solaris could become a pain in the behind big time
Also oracle can now can everything hardware /OS/software all in one shot .. rendering MS useless over night in data center .....
Well push open office could hurt office big time ..... since we are in the buy baby buy phase why not buy Corel and now you have a few interesting suite too port them on solaris and poof instant MS killer
Yes ballmer must be having a fit at this moment
Quebec-french20th Apr 2009 -
The surprise was that Sun was selling itself
If Oracle had made a hostile bid, it wouldn't have surprised anybody. It is sad that Sun is reduced to such a state that they cant survive as a company anymore and have to offer themselves up for sale.
Most pundits didnt expect Oracle to get into hardware, but Oracle would never allow another competitor to buy Solaris on which most Oracle servers were installed. In fact Oracle would have bought Sun 10 or 15 years earlier if they could have afforded it.
marees20th Apr 2009 -
next clip: Ballmer wetting his pants!
Sources told me that after Ballmer got out of shock and his pee drenched pants, he rushed to call Billy Gate$, the former brain of the evil empire.
Luckily for him, Gate$ was already sitting on a toilet counting his $$$ and escaped the embarrassing episode Ballmer went through.
Linux Geek20th Apr 2009 -
transposeIT22nd Apr 2009 -
Rivals? Don't undersell it
"Oracle is, of course, one of Microsoft's chief rivals in the
database and business applications space--a fact that
Ballmer highlighted in an interview in February. Sun is also
a longtime rival, although the two companies have had a
technology partnership in recent years stemming from
their settlement of legal hostilities back in 2004."
The relationship between Larry Ellison and Ballmer is
hostile.
http://gawker.com/tech/ceo-pay/larry-ellison-is-
overpaid-while-steve-ballmer-is-unmotivated-
305833.php
And now Oracle has the technologies to directly target MS
revenues. A great move by Oracle and Ballmer knows it.
Richard Flude20th Apr 2009 -
RE: Oracle-Sun: IBM surprised, Ballmer speechless
Why the surprise. This was predicted by more than one
commentator. The hardware business will be on sold to HP.
Oracle keeps the software.
csteddy20th Apr 2009 -
Ellison is a mad genius
Larry is a mad genius. He now has an arsenal to compete in a matrixed environment. He has access to the racks and the cloud, JAVA on the desktop all business MS clients, unbreakable linux, the middleware, the hardware and 24 months of R&D with sun. Oracle is now dangerous.
HE can hook small companies with the slow drip of mysql and move them up the food chain to enterprise products. HE has an inherently secure Solaris for Production and heavy cloud applications.
Software:
The ORACLE line
ORACLE LINUX
CLOUD APPS
DATABASE
SUN/ JAVA/ Middleware
JAVA Desktop access
JAVA webstart rapid application access w/persistence better than gears
SUNS DEV TOOLS
STAR OFFICE/Open Office access to any desktop we might watch IBM Symphony's license change.
SOLARIS
MYSQL /SUN
HARDWARE:
Optimized servers and custom stacks for aforementioned hardware.
Work Stations
Storage from small business to enterprise
The world is Larry's! There is a reason he get's the big boat.
HE is the real deal and now his company is armed on every front and has defensible beach head in every port of call.
moffett.john@...20th Apr 2009 -
RE: Oracle-Sun: IBM surprised, Ballmer speechless
It's really shocking to hear that Sun is offering itself up for sale.
brajesh821st Apr 2009 -
RE: Oracle-Sun: IBM surprised, Ballmer speechless
IBM and Microsoft must be headed by really foolish guys... After Oracle netted Weblogic, it was any child's guesswork that the company was itching to buy more...and what else could be a bettre buy than Sun - the home of Java!
Oracle stratgey worked well all the way from 1988...eventhough the competitos had better products all the time! Now they have proved the same magic in takeover battles!
Gopi Nathan21st Apr 2009 -
Not really a surprise to me.
Quite the ingenious pairing if you ask me.
Oracle has been powered by Java. Sun servers run Oracle. This is as close to a match made in heaven for Sun as you could get. Their software and Oracle's software coffers don't collide very much at all.
IBM was surprised, but I remember the first time talks broke down, some one talked about Oracle being the next in line. IBM is best not to buy this one, while IBM could utilize Java to no end, Oracle doesn't have a hardware line under the eyes of the DOJ.
In the words of Guinness, "Brilliant!"
nucrash21st Apr 2009 -
Is there going to be a Larry Ellison Health Watch?
I figured now that he controls two very serious companies, some one might want to keep an eye on him.nucrash21st Apr 2009 -
RE: Oracle-Sun: IBM surprised, Ballmer speechless
Get ready to dig deeper into your wallets Oracle fans
bug3@...21st Apr 2009 -
Ballmer feels threatened.
He had nothing to say, because the second-most egotistical computer CEO (Scott) has just been castrated by the FIRST-most egotistical computer CEO (Larry).
And we know who's third... Hey Stevie, how they hangin' now?
Rick S._z21st Apr 2009 -
RE: Oracle-Sun: IBM surprised, Ballmer speechless
Poor poor IBM,...first the old "nobody will ever want a home computer" let's sell this to Bill Gates for a handfull of beans. Now this,...they let the golden goose get away. For a lousy 10 cents per share. Does anyone in IBM have any imagination of spunk at all?!!
seaczar21st Apr 2009
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