As if I needed further proof that I would never survive in a cut-throat business environment, it was my husband who speculated that IBM low-balling Sun, then dropping negotiations over the weekend would strengthen Big Blue's hand when Sun's stock dropped Monday. Which it obligingly did.
To read the trade commentary, I'm apparently in the minority for thinking--rather radically, for me--that this merger actually makes sense from both sides. Granted, I'm not overly qualified to speculate: I spent just over two years as "vendor scum" inside IBM as a tech. writer at the end of the Lou Gerstner regime. I'll be up-front and say that--although I do care about and keep in touch with a number of folks I met there--there's not much love lost between me and "The Blue Zoo's" culture. (Though I still miss the Ritazza coffee stand and the cafeteria's chili and their beef and barley soup. Those all rocked.)
Let it also be noted that Java is my hands-down favorite language because Sun made it easy to use their language with decent documentation of the APIs and helpful tutorials. Plus they gave away the tools--which was pretty darned revolutionary Back In The Day. I used my HTML editor plus the command line as a Java IDE for a few years, actually...and didn't feel in the least "deprived" doing so.
So I'm surprised not to find more cognitive dissonance in my brain over the prospect of Big Blue assimilating Sun and letting loose their slimy battalions of bean-counters and patent lawyers on the not-inconsiderable IP portfolio. Mainly because Sun so obviously needs to be saved from itself, to learn how to monetize again. Sam Palmisano, the current suzerain of IBM, made his name selling services, not hardware or software. That's critical. And, for love of Pete, someone needs to take Scott McNealy and Jonathan Schwartz out behind the garage and shoot--errrr...what I mean is...ummm...give them to a nice farm family. Yeah. Farm family.
Ahem.
Also, significantly, IBM has been heavily into the Java space for a decade; in UNIX longer still. And, for all I diss on their patent lawyers, IBM shows every sign of understanding the software development ecosystem in a way that Microsoft and Adobe, IMO, quite emphatically do not. Culturally, Sun and IBM seem to have a weakness for "trophy geeks," which is likewise important for assimilation. (Woe betide you if you belong to a lesser caste, but that's another story...)
So I'll stick my neck out and declare myself fairly sanguine about an IBM absorption of Sun. If the acquisition founders, my money's on it being the decision of Sun. Not the decision IBM and most certainly not the result any antitrust paranoia.
