On Tue, 2011-05-10 at 13:18 +0200, Fabrizio Giudici wrote: > On 05/10/2011 12:40 PM, Russel Winder wrote: > > > > I think: > > > > "Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by > > incompetence." > > > > may be appropriate in this situation. > > > Probably. Still, it sounds odd to me that Oracle gets bashed whatever > they do. There was the split Hudson / Jeskins -> blame Oracle because it > can't properly deal with the community. Then Oracle announces (ok, only > announces, let's see) a cooperation with one of the outstanding > communities out there, and still blame Oracle? I mean, it's true that > Oracle is probably "incompetent" with respect to the relation with the > community, but couldn't that step be one in the good direction? > Shouldn't we encourage this as a way to gain some "competence" in the > relation with the community?
I think the sequence of events actually makes some sort of sense. Oracle is a fundamentally proprietary/closed source business that focuses on extracting maximal profit at every situation. Nothing wrong with that in the USA business model. However they find themselves fundamentally dependent on Java which is now a FOSS technology. They buy Sun to protect their investment in Java. They do various deals around the various JDKs as a way of ensuring continuity of infrastructure. Again nothing wrong with this in the USA business model. As a side effect they end up with a whole lot of other resources that they are trying to find ways of turning into profit. Patents, trademarks, software assets, these are things that the Oracle lawyers and management know how to turn into profit -- except that these new ones via Sun are associated with FOSS software not closed source. Thus Oracle is entering new territory and they are, as an organization, just learning how to deal with it -- what can be turned to profit and what should be let go as a drain on resources. In this light the Hudson case seems explainable. What is the resource in Hudson that can be turned to profit -- the name and the trademark. So try and turn the software asset as proprietary as possible. Do deals with organizations to shore up this stance. See the whole thing getting out of hand and going "titsup". Try to extricate with as little damage as possible to teh Oracle bottom line. OK this is not incompetence as I originally suggested, it is just trying to find a profit from absolutely everything they bought as Sun, and sometimes getting it wrong due to a misjudgement of the community reaction in this new world, to Oracle, of FOSS communities. -- Russel. ============================================================================= Dr Russel Winder t: +44 20 7585 2200 voip: sip:[email protected] 41 Buckmaster Road m: +44 7770 465 077 xmpp: [email protected] London SW11 1EN, UK w: www.russel.org.uk skype: russel_winder
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