"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic" -- Arthur C Clarke
Musings from the technological frontier
Showing posts with label sun microsystems. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sun microsystems. Show all posts
April 20, 2009
Sun to Become Part of Oracle
I'm not a great one for handing out stock tips, but when I said a month ago that Sun Microsystems was worth buying at $8 it looked like I was wrong when the IBM acquisition talks fell through. Just the same I held on, and now it looks like I'll be able to take a $1.50 profit when Oracle buy the company in the summer. Of course buying after the talks failed made even more sense, as Alex Martelli wisely pointed out in a comment. Thanks, Alex!
March 19, 2009
Sun Microsystems in Play
For a couple of days now Sun's stock has been the subject of speculation due to IBM's wish to acquire the company. Strangely enough the company would have been worth more a month ago, since IBM's interest is unlikely to be in Sun's hardware range (which IBM would be well advised to spin off as no longer a part of their core competency).
No. IBM's interest in Sun is its software, which in turn means its people. So the price would have been higher before Sun's recent round of layoffs. If the deal goes ahead it's an unfortunate fact that many remaining Sun employees will lose their jobs because there will be duplication of administrative functions. I doubt, though, that many of those with higher-level technical skills will find themselves redundant, as they are the basis of the $7bn valuation of Sun.
I should have bought Sun stock at $4 a year ago (but didn't, for reasons I won't bother to go into here). But I think even at $8 I'll manage to make a modest profit on them.
No. IBM's interest in Sun is its software, which in turn means its people. So the price would have been higher before Sun's recent round of layoffs. If the deal goes ahead it's an unfortunate fact that many remaining Sun employees will lose their jobs because there will be duplication of administrative functions. I doubt, though, that many of those with higher-level technical skills will find themselves redundant, as they are the basis of the $7bn valuation of Sun.
I should have bought Sun stock at $4 a year ago (but didn't, for reasons I won't bother to go into here). But I think even at $8 I'll manage to make a modest profit on them.
March 3, 2008
Industry Support for Python Broadens
In a move of significance to all Python users Sun Microsystems has broadened its support for dynamic languages still further. There was some interest in their announcement less than six months ago that they had hired Charles Nutter and Thomas Enebo, developers of JRuby.
Today we learn that they have recruited Frank Wierzbicki and Ted Leung. Frank has been one of the two principal maintainers of the Jython project for a good long time now, and has brought the language forward to the point where it supports the newnew-style classes, a significant milestone in compatibility with CPython. Ted is a long-time member of the Apache Software Foundation who was a member of the OSAF's Chandler team for the last four years.
Sun was a great employer for me (I was badge number 1536, I believe, starting back in 1985), and I hope that Frank and Ted enjoy working there. It's certainly a great place to meet people with exceptional intelligence, and the fact that both Sun and Microsoft are now visibly taking a serious approach to dynamic languages in general and Python in particular is terrific.
Sun and Microsoft are both sponsoring this year's PyCon, for which registrations recently topped 900. If you want to meet them there then you still have four days to register at the pre-conference prices!
Today we learn that they have recruited Frank Wierzbicki and Ted Leung. Frank has been one of the two principal maintainers of the Jython project for a good long time now, and has brought the language forward to the point where it supports the newnew-style classes, a significant milestone in compatibility with CPython. Ted is a long-time member of the Apache Software Foundation who was a member of the OSAF's Chandler team for the last four years.
Sun was a great employer for me (I was badge number 1536, I believe, starting back in 1985), and I hope that Frank and Ted enjoy working there. It's certainly a great place to meet people with exceptional intelligence, and the fact that both Sun and Microsoft are now visibly taking a serious approach to dynamic languages in general and Python in particular is terrific.
Sun and Microsoft are both sponsoring this year's PyCon, for which registrations recently topped 900. If you want to meet them there then you still have four days to register at the pre-conference prices!
January 17, 2008
Sun Buys MySQL for $1 billion
Sun just raised their bet on open source by buying MySQL AB, the company that makes the most popular open source relational database in the world. They paid $800m in cash and assumed $200m in options to do so, even though MySQL distribute most of their software as open source.
MySQL was the first to aggressively adopt the so-called dual licensing model, which allowed products to be acquired as open source or bought with a support contract, and this has been popular with those who don't like the prospect of having to fall back on their own support resources.
Sun seem to be betting that closer ties with a popular database product will bring them more server and suppoer business, and who's to say they're wrong?
MySQL was the first to aggressively adopt the so-called dual licensing model, which allowed products to be acquired as open source or bought with a support contract, and this has been popular with those who don't like the prospect of having to fall back on their own support resources.
Sun seem to be betting that closer ties with a popular database product will bring them more server and suppoer business, and who's to say they're wrong?
December 5, 2007
Sun to Reward Open Source Contributors
Sun Microsystems made the news on Tuesday by announcing in India (which they feel will produce the majority of open source contributors in future) that they intended to start handing out cash rewards to open source programmers. Interestingly, although it's all over Google, it seems impossible to find a reference that does not include the word "dangle", indicating to me that a single source - Chris Kanaracus of IDG - is involved. Nice to get so much attention!
It was also reported, though, that Sun would "be releasing further details on Wednesday". The details have received very little web coverage, however. It turns out that Sun are investing $1 million, and have selected a few specific communities to work with in their Open Source Community Awards program's first year.
It's good to see the commercial world starting to recognize that the efforts of a relatively small number of forward-thinking pioneers have quietly and effectively provided the beginnings of an open infrastructure that we can all work with. I hope that others who have profited by their efforts will follow suit in short order. Industrial Light and Magic, to mention but one worthy candidate.
It was also reported, though, that Sun would "be releasing further details on Wednesday". The details have received very little web coverage, however. It turns out that Sun are investing $1 million, and have selected a few specific communities to work with in their Open Source Community Awards program's first year.
It's good to see the commercial world starting to recognize that the efforts of a relatively small number of forward-thinking pioneers have quietly and effectively provided the beginnings of an open infrastructure that we can all work with. I hope that others who have profited by their efforts will follow suit in short order. Industrial Light and Magic, to mention but one worthy candidate.
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