![]() Open-source software, in contrast to proprietary software such as Oracle's database, may be freely seen, modified and redistributed by anyone. "Open-source alternatives start to look very, very interesting."Īlthough asked to comment for this article, Oracle didn't on Thursday. "You have to be careful when you create that kind of pricing umbrella," McNealy said Wednesday. On Wednesday, McNealy added that the move effectively doubles the price for customers upgrading to Sun's dual-core UltraSparc IV chip and would put a $50,000 price tag on Oracle running on Sun's forthcoming eight-core Niagara processor. ![]() In December, McNealy knocked Oracle for charging a license fee for each core rather than for each chip, as Sun would prefer. Second, McNealy has criticized Oracle more than once for not updating its pricing method for new processor designs that employ multiple processing engines, or cores, on each chip. But Sun has shown a willingness recently to tussle with Oracle.įirst of all, Sun promotes with increasing aggression its Java Enterprise System, server software with several components thatĬompete with Oracle's products. Offering an open-source database that competes directly with Oracle's cash cow might not sit well with a major business partner that also has strong partnerships with Dell and Hewlett-Packard. Instead, Sun relies on a tight partnership with database giant Oracle. Lacking a database is significant given Sun's argument that customers want to buy a package of integrated technology rather than parts that must be assembled. Unlike rivals IBM and Microsoft, Sun has no database software to sell in a $13.5 billion market that Oracle leads, according to IDC. "We have ongoing efforts with Sun, and some of those efforts include Ingres," said Tony Gaughan, senior vice president of development at CA. If Sun chooses a partnership for a database, one company stands out from the alternatives: Computer Associates International, which is working to bring more attention to its 30-year-old and now open-source Ingres database. "I would counsel strongly against them acquiring database technology to go head-to-head with Oracle," Hurley said. But a direct fight with Oracle CEO Larry Ellison would be foolhardy and unlikely. William Hurley, an analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group, believes Sun will eventually offer a database to flesh out its server software suite. Maybe it will extend to file systems, maybe it will extend to databases, maybe it will extend to middleware." "I don't think it's going to be limited to simply operating systems. "I think it's clear the market has spoken that open source is the path that the developer community and the customer community wants to drive down, and I think we're going to do what we can to try to give customers as big a set of options as we can," Schwartz said. And though offering an open-source DB that competes directly with Oracle's cash cow might irk a major business partner, Sun has shown a willingness lately to tussle with the giant. Starting a DB project from scratch would be tough, but there are potential partners in the increasingly mainstream open-source realm. A Sun DB could anger partner Oracle, but it could curry favor with advocates of open-source software, which is at the center of Sun's strategy to attract more programmers to its technology. Sun has hinted it may offer its own database to flesh out its server software suite.
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