Wow, this is big. It is no secret that Sun has fallen on some tough times lately. Sun had a total revenue of $11.45 billion last year down from $13.88 billion the year before. In contrast, Oracle’s last year revenues were $23.23 Billion. The combined revenues of both companies should approach $35 billion. Microsoft currently checks in at $56.3 billion. We’re looking at the heavy weights going at it. With Microsoft on the decline, Google at $23.65 billion on the rise, and now Oracle stepping up into the fray, this may become a very interesting war. Oracle acquired Sun for a mere $7.4 billion, a steal.

Oracle’s revenue comes from it’s pervasive Oracle database. Depending on how you look at it revenue, or installs. Oracle is in the top 2 with Microsoft and IBM’s DB2 a close third. Let’s not forget, MySql is the most popular Open Source, i.e free, database in the world. What is surprising is when you look at installs and the number of developers developing with a database, MySql comes in a close 3rd to Oracle and Microsoft, with DB2 fourth, and MySql shows the greatest growth rate of all database development.

Oracle’s acquisition of the MySql product may be a problem for the Open Source community. Sun owned MySQL, which now belongs to Oracle. If you remember, Oracle purchased PeopleSoft in Dec. 2004 for $10.3 billion. In Oct, 2005 they acquired Innobase which is an integral part of MySql for transaction processing and foreign keys. What will Oracle do with MySql has caused a huge concern with the Open Source Community, so much so, that their already has been several forks of MySql, Drizzle, and MariaDB, just in case Oracle starts charging for MySql. For now, Oracle pledges to leave MySql independent, but this is to be expected in the initial stages of an acquisition, things usually change in six months or so.

My thought is they will continue to support an Open Source MySql and build on top of MySql additional tools, extensions, and integrations with other Oracle products with, of course, a clear upgrade path to Oracle’s flagship products for which the enterprise users will pay dearly.

And the same for OpenOffice.org, a legitimate contender, now, of Microsoft Office. Oracle has never had an Office Suite and has wanted one. Oracle is built with Java, as is OpenOffice.org. Again, tools, extensions, and integrations with Oracle products seems like a nice way to get users to start paying for more and more functionality from a previously non-existent Oracle Office Products.

Oracle keeping the Open Source products they have acquired free, and enhancing them, at first, to gain market share seems like good business sense, but as these applications gain more and more market share, I believe Oracle will take a page from Microsoft’s play book, and start charging for their enhancements to the products. What this means for Open Source, is a freezing of the Open Source components to a minimal feature level, and if you want more, pay for it.

I have great faith in Open Source software, the forking of MySql is evidence that independent Open Source Developers will continue to create other applications with the missing functionality, that Oracle will ask customers to purchase. As MySql has emerged as the premier Open Source database, so other products can, and will, emerge to take its place, if Oracle begins to get as “bean counterish” as Microsoft is currently, with it prideful boasting about “Microsoft Genuine Advantage,” and its publicly crowing about the number of companies they have sued, look for any closing down, of previously Open Source Oracle products to be a catalyst to breed a new generation of improved Open Source products.

I called Microsoft Customer Support the other day.   I was impressed.  I got an actual person to talk to in a relatively short time after going through the usual  telephone system automatic pick a number if it fits your problem.

I can’t say that I hung up happy, in fact, I finished the call  downright angry.  What was the problem?  About a year and half ago, I had built a computer. and paid for and installed the OEM version of Vista Home Premium as the operating system.

For those of you who have not looked at operating system pricing, the OEM version, as opposed to the Retail version,  is supposedly for system manufactures and integrators who build systems.

To continue the story, the system crashed and in the process took out the power supply and motherboard.  There was nothing wrong with the disk drives, and I still had Vista and all my data on the drives.   So I purchased a new power supply and motherboard, and connected everything up.

That’s when I found out my system wouldn’t boot.  What was the problem.  Well, in one word, Microsoft.  It turns out if you have an OEM copy of the operating system, It can only be reinstalled on a system with the exact same make and model of motherboard as where it was originally installed. My original motherboard was obsolete, so I was in a “Catch-22.”

What did Microsoft Customer Support say, “Well, that’s our policy.”  Which made me instantly angry.  To paraphrase heir policy, we know you build systems, and that you repair systems, but if your customer has a problem with his motherboard, which needs replacing, you’ll have to buy a new operating system, of course, you could have bought the retail version initially, hint, hint.  In order to get up and running I had to purchase another license.  Pay another $200 to turn a software switch on.

You would think that Microsoft would give its partners a break, which it supposedly does by making the OEM version about $100 less than the retail version.  But as you can see from this experience, you are better off initially buying the retail version.

Better yet, your better off boycotting Microsoft products all together.   Is that possible?  I believe so, yes,  I’ve just ordered the parts for a new computer.  It’s purpose is to prove to myself that I, or anyone else for that matter, don’t need to use Microsoft products.   That you can still have a fully functional computer without using Microsoft products.   I believe Microsoft is going the way of IBM, a has-been, and has peaked.  And I aim to do my part to help Microsoft along.  Yep, I guess you could say, “that’s my new policy.”

Microsoft is scrambling to get out its replacement operating system for Vista to bring up its revenues.  The replacement, Windows 7,  will try to get corporate America and the government weaned away from XP.  Vista has largely failed to meet expectations.  It is slower than XP with many annoying features, like UAC, User Account Control.  That’s not to say Windows 7  will be much better.  It will have UAC only with four choices instead of two.

In an effort to get Windows 7 out by Q3 2009, Steve Ballmer, Microsoft’s CEO, announced that a new version of Office will NOT be released with Windows 7.  This is a switch from previous releases where both were released at the same time to enhance both revenue streams, and signals a separation of operating sytem and Office development.

This separation is real, and led to several interesting developments.   You will not have to have Windows 7  to run Office 14.  It will still be supported on XP.   Office 14 will have a new format that will support XML-based file format Open Office XML (ODF). Microsoft has been fighting against this to try to keep to its own Open Document Format (OOXML).  It looks like it will give in on this one.

And in a big twist, Stephen Elop, Microsoft Business Division Chief  announced that Office 14 may offer a FREE ad supported version.  In other words, you can get it for free, if your willing to look at ads while you work. Elop said it was to fight piracy, but we think that the complete $400 plus package of Office from Microsoft is under a lot of pressure from OpenOffice.org.  Sales must be hurting given OpenOffice.org is free.   Elops sees it has a chance to get upgrade revenues later on.   I guess, if the ads are annoying enough, people will spring for the $200-$500 to upgrade, but we don’t think so.  Hopefully, the ads will replace the ribbon.

Office 14, the new release, now will not be released until 2010.   In the meantime, we thought we’d tease you with some advanced shots of the new Office 14.   These are compliments of the Office 14 Alpha release and was leaked by the Russian web site, Wzor.  We know, we know, the images are small, if you like an even closer look try here.

Micorsoft Security Updates?   Lets take a completely different perspective.

What if Microsoft didn’t make my operating system like a *&%$* vault, and some baddies somehow laid some malware into my machine.  That’s right, somehow penetrated all my non-Microsoft firewall, anitvirus software, spyware program, registry cleaner, and file change detection programs.  Yep, just suppose this malware got through all of those third-party apps, and really messed up my system.  It messed it up so bad, I couldn’t recover, and I had to buy a new computer.

Wouldn’t Microsoft make more money from the sale of a new operating system and office tools on that new computer I’d be forced to buy.  Get a clue Microsoft, stop these idiotic security updates, and ultra pain in the butt security measures that clog our systems, slow them down, and let us pay you more money.

Along those lines, since we never know what is inside, the now infamous, Microsoft security updates,  I have a sneaky suspicion, that has nagged at me many a time, as my system reboots from yet another securtiy update.   What if Microsoft security updates for XP, and its other older operating systems have a little extra functionality built-in.  Maybe, they have a couple extra loops in the code of each new update.  This would gradually slow your older operating system down.  We, of course, would call these updates, “security updates.”  Of course, the extra loops wouldn’t be in the updates for their latest operating system.

Why? Well, to sell new computers, and with each computer, new Microsoft software.  Can you say money?  Get rid of that super slow clunker you’ve had for a couple of years, and buy a new “speedy” computer with Vista on it.  See how quick your new computer runs.  “Wow, Vista looks really good!”   Nah, Microsoft wouldn’t do that, would they?

News Flash!  IBM to buy Sun.  It appears IBM is trying to consolidate the market for servers by purchasing Sun Microsystems for a whooping $6.5B in cash.  This is probably a knee-jerk reaction to Cisco systems announcement just this week that it will start selling servers.  The Internet giant, Cisco, entering the market is a serous threat to the existing market competitors.

That market before this week was mainly Dell and HP on the low side, Sun in the middle and IBM at the high end.  Both Dell and HP had been in pricing wars, and have been gradually reducing server pricing to gain market share, thus reducting margins.  We believe IBM is trying to consolidate the market, surround Cisco with both the high end and middle end systems, and at the same time increase IBM dominance in the market, before Cisco can gain a toehold.

IBM in the past had dominated the large mainframe market, but we think this market is gradually subsiding, just like it did when Digital started coming out with minicomputers to replace IBM mainframes.  In this case, IBM probably sees Cisco as a threat to their high end market share, and are afraid history may repeat itself.

We see Dell and HP continuing to occupy the low end with IBM and Cisco, with instant credibility, taking over the high end.  Although obviously not without a fight from IBM.  It should be an interesting battle, for those in the middle are doomed to eventually die.

In a rare convergence of technology it seems that for the first time since the 1980’s the two x86 microprocessor manufacturers, Intel and AMD, are coming out with surprisingly similar technology and architecture for their next generation 45nm quad core chips. This will allow true one-to-one competition between the two chip makers. We will all benefit as computers will show a real leap in computer performance compared to past architectures. We’re talking server speeds moving to your desktop, and Vista loading in less than 45 seconds.

The two chip builders took different architectural routes to get to today’s convergence in chip architecture. When Intel eliminated its Front Side Bus, put the memory controller in the chip, and independently powered each core they took on the same architecture that AMD has been using for years. At the same time, AMD went to 45nm technology which Intel has pioneered. Thus the convergence.

Intel’s offering internally called “Nehalem,” and commercially dubbed “Corei7,” will replace the popular “Core2″ architecture. Memory performance will triple as three separate DDR3 memory DIMMs with be run simultaneously. Intel requires a new socket, supporting hardware, and DDR3 memory.

AMD offering internally called “Shanghai,” and commercially dubbed “Opteron,” will use the same socket on the motherboard as their older “Barcelona” architecture, and AMD is waiting until 2010 to move to DDR3 memory. So they will be compatible with existing hardware right from the start.

Intel is first out the door, but will have to wait for the hardware to catch up. Memory availability appears to be there. AMD will have to prove it can deliver consistently, which it has had trouble with in the past. Thus the 2009 battleground.

The victor will be the chip with the best performance and the lowest power consumption. We are all eagerly awaiting the competition.

Microsoft is starting to take a run at Google Docs.  They have started by offering, at least, while it is in Beta release, a free Microsoft Office Live Workspace.  This is simply 500Mb of web space on a server that you can use to upload your documents, and access them from anywhere with a browser.  You also share these documents with others.  Microsoft has a plug in that integrates with Office on your desktop, and supposedly makes for a smoother integration of Office with Workspace. There is a small catch in that it only works with browsers that support ActiveX, that is Internet Explorer and Firefox currently.

The really interesting news is that Microsoft has announced web applications that will be “lightweight” versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote accessed from a browser.   No word yet whether they will be free, or whether you’ll have to have the desktop version of Office running to use it.

Rest assured, Microsoft will figure out some angle to make this a revenue producer.  Microsoft is pulling out its old tried and true strategy of coming out with a “me too” so-so  product that mimics Google Docs, and will constantly update the product until it gets 5 star reviews.  This will be followed by raising the price dramatically.  Office is not cheap, and people, for some reason, are still paying for it, even though OpenOffice.org for the desktop, and Google Docs for the Internet are available for free.