What an IBM-Sun Merger Might Mean For Java, MySQL, Developers 292
An IBM-Sun merger is a tantalyzing possibility; snydeq writes "Fatal Exception's Neil McAllister suggests that an IBM/Sun merger could crown Big Blue king of enterprise software development. 'Acquiring Sun would make IBM the clear leader in Java, as it would become the caretaker of the open source reference implementation of the JRE,' which, along with GlassFish, would become entry-level gateways to IBM's WebSphere stack. Moreover, MySQL would give IBM's database division a significant entry-level hook, and NetBeans/Eclipse would unify IBM's front against Visual Studio. 'All in all, this move would solidify IBM's role as "the developer company,"' McAllister writes. 'In other words, if this merger goes through and you're an enterprise developer and you're not an IBM customer now, get ready — because you soon will be. Better bring your wallet.'"
And blackbearnh writes with a short interview with Brian Aker (who came to Sun as MySQL's director of architecture, and is now the lead for MySQL fork Drizzle) about what life would be like under Big Blue's control.
Developers! (Score:2, Funny)
No one tell Ballmer. I'm not sure he could handle this kind of let down.
The real problem (Score:5, Funny)
Is that new releases of Java and Solaris will be EBCDIC only!
Re:The real problem (Score:3, Funny)
No, Java will be supercesed by COBOL.
Re:What an IBM-Sun Merger Might Mean (Score:1, Funny)
Right. Like the so-called "Schopenhauer's Law of Entropy", to wit:
If you put a spoonful of wine in a barrel of sewage, you have sewage.
If you put a spoonful of sewage in a barrel of wine, you have sewage.
Re:Developers! (Score:5, Funny)
Who has more chairs: Microsoft or IBM?
IBM. In fact, they have more than 3 times more chairs (well, employees, but a good proxy for # of chairs).
Heck, they probably have a dozen patents on chairs.
Re:What an IBM-Sun Merger Might Mean (Score:5, Funny)
IBS [wikipedia.org].
Re:What an IBM-Sun Merger Might Mean (Score:4, Funny)
Oh my... And I thought Eclipse would suck very hard. How horrible is Visual Studio then?
Like developing for the IE... by using MS Word for layouting... with a large portion of Radeon driver quality... on a Windows ME / VMS mutant... running on a retro Edsel in-car original Pentium/VAX hybrid?
Re:The real problem (Score:3, Funny)
Or has anyone seen a punch card torrent
You will if you accidentally knock over a box of them. Or is that a stack dump?
Re:What an IBM-Sun Merger Might Mean (Score:1, Funny)
Oh gods, I've used NetBeans, Eclipse, Dev-Cpp, KDevelop, MonoDevelop, and a couple of smaller IDEs. I've broken a few keyboards while using Emacs, and I've even tried Vim. I've also tried a shitload of small console-based editors such as nano, joe, jed, vi, and even ed. And I'd say, when it comes to editing source code, I think only ed sucks more than Visual Studio.
Re:"IBM is where good companies go to die" (Score:5, Funny)
Re:What an IBM-Sun Merger Might Mean (Score:5, Funny)
I repeat, if you are not IBM, then you must stop being not IBM immediately, or else.
Re:Can't imagine (sorry) (Score:5, Funny)
The transition to Notes alone is likely to send Sun talent running for the hills.
They're dedicated professionals and they'll adapt to Notes and other aspects of IBM culture in a professional way: by curling into fetal position under a desk in the corner of the office and whimpering pathetically.
Re:Keep Sun Independent! (Score:4, Funny)
I agree. IBM has been delivering superior support and Java tools for quite a while. Eclipse is the best IDE I have used, apart, perhaps, from the old Borland text-based IDE for Turbo C++.
And yes, I have used Netbeans and Visual Studio. And Kdevelop and Monodevelop and vim, vi, and emacs. And "brief" back when MS-DOS was the way to go.
And ed and Turbo Pascal back on CP/M. How many of you young punks used CP/M? Huh? Now get the hell off my lawn!
IBM is a stodgy old enterprise player, but they are solid and professional. They have been much friendlier to open source in general and Linux in particular than Sun has. I for one welcome our new Big Blue overlords...
Re:Why can't Apple buy them instead??? (Score:2, Funny)
Bare with me for a moment.
Yeah, let's get nekkid!