Trade group: Oracle-Sun good news for Linux

Linux Foundation leader Jim Zemlin has given a warm welcome to Oracle's purchase of Sun, saying it is "good news" for Linux.

The acquisition is good for Linux because business-software leader Oracle is strategically aligned with Linux, as well as a Linux distributor and a major user of the open-source operating system, Zemlin wrote in a blog post on Wednesday.

The purchase of Sun, announced on Monday, means Oracle will take over the Solaris Unix-based operating system, as well as two key open-source products: the Java programming language and the MySQL database. In its announcement, Oracle said Solaris was the "best Unix technology available in the market" and that it would optimise its database software for the operating system.

"While Oracle specifically is calling out the software assets and upside in this deal, specially [sic] the acquisition of Java and Solaris, this does not mean they will lessen their support for Linux," Zemlin wrote, noting that the company had said it was as committed as ever to Linux in its announcement about the purchase.

"Much like IBM or HP, who continue to build out their Linux businesses while sustaining their Unix investments, it's about granting customers choice and making sure your software is optimised to run on the OS of their choice," Zemlin said. 

While the Linux Foundation pointed to the close ties Oracle has with Linux and open source, others have noted the failure of Oracle's Unbreakable Linux campaign and have highlighted the problems the company had trying to offer its own version of Linux.