System News for Sun Users - The Blog

EU Antitrust Chief Vacating Post on Jan. 26th

Dec. 10 is the day Oracle will be presenting its case to European Union regulators on why it should be allowed to acquire Sun. The European Commission has objected to the $7 billion deal, saying the combination of Sun’s MySQL database product and Oracle’s products could hinder competition in the database market. This ruling has met with opposition from a variety of sources and galvanized letter writing campaigns urging the EU to reconsider its stance. The EC also announced on Nov. 30 that Neelie Kroes, the commission’s competition commissioner for the last five years, will be assigned to a new job. Kroes has been in charge of the investigation into Oracle’s proposed purchase of Sun.

(Get More Information . .)

Letter Cites Sun’s Precarious Financial Condition, Fears of More Layoffs A group of 59 U.S. senators sent a letter to the European Commission (EC) on Nov. 24 urging the European antitrust regulators to hurry their investigation into Oracle’s acquisition of Sun, citing the latter’s “precarious” financial condition and fears about more layoffs at the struggling computing company, reported AP Technology Writer Jordan Robertson.

(Get More Information . .)

Ruling Extended Eight Days at Oracle’s Request

European Union (EU) regulators extended the deadline for their final decision on Oracle’s plans to buy Sun by eight days. Announced on November 20, this extension was set in place to satisfy a request made by Oracle who is building its rebuttal to the European Commission’s Statement of Objections issued on November 9th opposing Sun’s acquisition by Oracle. The Commission said it has pushed back its deadline to January 27, 2010, from the original January 19 deadline set back in September.

(Get More Information . .)

Oracle to “Vigorously Oppose” the Ruling

The European Commission issued a Statement of Objections on November 9th opposing Sun’s acquisition by Oracle. According to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing from Sun, the open-source MySQL database software is the sole issue of concern in the matter. In response, Oracle issued a statement saying the objection “reveals a profound misunderstanding of both database competition and open-source dynamics” and the company “plans to vigorously oppose the Commission’s Statement of Objections as the evidence against the Commission’s position is overwhelming.”

(Get More Information . .)