As my readers have no doubt heard by now, today the EC cleared Oracle’s proposed acquisition of Sun Microsystems. This will undoubtedly have a significant impact on all Sun employees, many of whom I have worked with toward common purposes, on standards or open source projects, and whom I am proud to call my colleagues. I wish them all best of luck.
I know a little of what they will be going through in the weeks and months ahead, having worked for Lotus Development Corporation when IBM acquired it in 1995. So here is my unsolicited advice. Some day they will come. It may be in weeks, maybe months from now, maybe early in the morning, maybe after hours or on the weekend. But that day will come. They will come and strip the Sun logo from the wall in the lobby and replace it with the Oracle logo. Watch for that day, that narrow window of opportunity. Save the logo. It is your trophy, your icon, your totem. You will always be Sun. Don’t let them take it away.