Sun acquire open source Innotek

SUN Microsystems has announced it is to acquire the German open source virtualisation company Innotek, which makes VirtualBox software that lets users more easily run different operating systems on a single box.

The company said that enable developers to more efficiently build, test and run applications on multiple platforms, VirtualBox would extend Sun’s own xVM platform.

Sun did not say how much the stock purchase agreement is worth.

Innotek's open source VirtualBox has had more than four million downloads since January 2007. The product lets desktop or laptop PCs running the Windows, Linux, Mac or Solaris operating systems to run multiple, different operating systems side-by-side, switching between them with a click of the mouse.

This means software developers can more easily build multi-tier or cross-platform applications, or power-users to take advantage of applications that may not be available for their base operating system of choice.

“VirtualBox provides Sun with the perfect complement to our recently announced Sun xVM Server product,” Sun Software executive vice-president Rich Green said.

“Where Sun xVM Server is designed to enable dynamic IT at the heart of the datacentre, VirtualBox is ideal for a laptop or desktop environment.”

The agreement to acquire innotek follows Sun's announcement on January 16 of a definitive agreement to acquire MySQL, the popular open source database.

Sun said the acquisitions reaffirm the company’s status as the largest commercial open source contributor.

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Sun acquires MySQL US$1b

SUN Microsystems has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Swedish open source database pioneer MySQL for US$1 billion (A$1.1 billion).

Sun said the acquisition gives the company a leg-up in the enterprise IT market, including the US$15 billion enterprise database market.

The announcement also reaffirms Sun’s position as one of the largest commercial open source contributors in the web economy.

“Supporting our overall growth plan, acquiring MySQL amplifies our investments in the technologies demanded by those driving extreme growth and efficiency, from internet media titans to the world's largest traditional enterprises,” Sun chief executive officer Jonathan Schwartz said in a statement.

“This announcement boosts our investments into the communities at the heart of innovation on the internet and of enterprises that rely on technology as a competitive weapon,” Mr Schwartz said.

MySQL corporate deployments include Facebook, Google, Nokia, Baidu and China Mobile. The acquisition will bring synergies to Sun that will change the landscape of the software industry by driving new adoption of MySQL's open source database in more traditional applications and enterprises.

The integration with Sun will greatly extend the commercial appeal of MySQL's offerings and should also improve its value proposition with the addition of Sun's global services organisation.

“Sun's culture and business model complements MySQL's own by sharing the same ideals that we have had since our foundation – software freedom, online innovation and community and partner participation,” said MySQL chief executive Marten Mickos.

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Apache Foundation goes to war with Sun

A DISPUTE over licensing conditions imposed by Sun Microsystems for the Java technology compatibility kit needed for an Apache project has intensified, and spilled into the public.

The Apache Software Foundation has accused Sun of breaking promises to the free and open software community over IP licensing condition it has applied to the JCK needed for the Apache Harmony project.

IN an open letter to Sun published on the ASF website, the foundation’s Java community process vice-president Geir Magnusson said the IP rights restrictions being put forward by Sun were “totally unacceptable”.

Harmony is the Apache open source implementation of Java Standard Edition 5.

“The JCK license Sun is offering imposes IP rights restrictions through limits on the ‘field of use’ available to users of our software,” Mr Magnusson said in the letter.

“These restrictions are contrary to the terms of the Java Specification Participation Agreement (JSPA) – the governing rules of the JCP – to which Sun is contractually bound to comply as a signatory,” he said.

The ASF says Sun’s JCK license protects parts of Sun’s commercial Java business at the expense of ASF’s open software by preventing its users from using Apache software in certain fields of use.

“Such implicit or explicit threats of IP-based aggression give one actor overwhelming commercial advantages over the other participants in the ecosystem,” Mr Magnusson said.

Besides holding back Harmony development, Mr Magnusson said the Sun licensing restrictions threatened to harm the reputation of Java as an open technology, and to harm the “cooperative nature” of the relationship between the Apache foundation and Sun.

“The situation we are facing is grossly in conflict with the basic IP philosophy of the JCP, the concept of Java as an open standards-based ecosystem, Sun's public promises to the free and open source communities, and Sun's contractual obligations as a specification lead under the JSPA,” he said.

The open letter calls on Sun to offer an acceptable and JSPA-compliant license within 30 days.

Sun responded to the letter in a blog saying the company was “working with as many communities as possible to create an open source implementation of the Java platform under the GPL (GNU General Public License) v2 that mainstream open source communities can work with - this includes TCKs.”

“As you'll note from Apache's letter, this is a dispute over specific terms, not over Sun providing a TCK,” Sun said.

“Java technology has many stakeholders, and we recognise that we will not be able to please everyone as we move through this process.”

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