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A posting on the company Web site implied that OpenSolaris may soon be “end-of-lifed.” However, there’s no need for app developers and IT managers to worry: Oracle says it is not killing off the freely down-loadable community version of Sun’s Unix-based Solaris enterprise operating system anytime soon.

Was a posting on the Oracle Web site published Feb. 24 entitled “End of Service Life Status for OpenSolaris Operating System” simply unclear on the concept, or was it a hint that Oracle is planning to drop the Sun Microsystems-developed open source operating system entirely?

Industry folks on Twitter, FriendFeed, Yammer, and Google Buzz admitted they were confused as they discussed the Oracle page, which talks about “the OpenSolaris End Of Service Life time line for OpenSolaris OS releases. The information covers the support status of every OpenSolaris release.”

No need for application developers and IT managers to worry, though: Oracle says it is not killing off the freely down-loadable community version of Sun’s Unix-based Solaris enterprise operating system anytime soon.

A week after closing its $7.4 billion deal to buy Sun, Oracle officials have shut down Darkstar, a 10-year-old Sun Labs project designed to create the back-end infrastructure for massively multiplayer online games. The shutting down Darkstar was announced on the project’s community site, though because it is open source, some were hopeful that the project could a home elsewhere.

With Sun Microsystems now in the fold, Oracle officials are in the process of deciding which Sun projects to continue and which to cancel.

Sun’s Project Darkstar, an open-source effort to design a more scalable, flexible and easier-to-program architecture for massively multiplayer online games, is one of the casualties.

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• Oracle kills Project Darkstar; adios to virtual worlds (venturebeat.com)

Oracle CEO expounds on a number of topics — and debunks a much-discussed rumor — as the company explains how it will integrate Sun Microsystems and its 27,000 employees into its business model.

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. — Oracle CEO and co-founder Larry Ellison took turns discounting rumors, chiding IBM, and extolling the speed and scalability of combined Oracle-Sun Microsystems data center products Jan. 27 before a packed auditorium here on the bayside campus of the world’s second-largest software maker.

Actually, Oracle from Jan. 27 on, will need to be described as a full-service IT products and services provider, along the same lines as IBM and Hewlett-Packard.

The $7.4 billion acquisition of Sun, a nine-month-long legal headache for Oracle that ended earlier in the day, now qualifies Oracle to make a complete change in its business model.

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• Oracle To Hire More Than It Fires at Sun: Reports (java.sys-con.com)

Developers from around the globe have been bombarding regulators from the European Commission, Russia, China and other countries with emails and a petition signed by 14,000 pro-MySQL users, protesting the acquisition of Sun Microsystems. But it may be too little, too late: The European Commission is expected to approve the deal within the next month.

MySQL community members, worried about the future direction of their prized Web database, have been petitioning antitrust regulators in several world jurisdictions through the holidays, using a widespread email campaign to urge international officials to stop the acquisition of Sun Microsystems by Oracle.

Developers from around the globe have been bombarding regulators from the European Commission, Russia, China and other countries with emails and phone calls, open source activist Florian Mueller told eWEEK on Jan. 4.

However, it may be too little, too late: The European Commission is expected to approve the deal within the next month, according to knowledgeable WEEK sources.

The Brussels-based European Commission, which serves as the law enforcement body of the 27-nation European Union, is due to make a decision no later than Jan. 27, 2010 about whether to sanction the acquisition, so that Oracle can acquire Sun and continue to do business in Europe as a full-service systems vendor.

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• MySQL creator launches bid to block Oracle Sun deal (v3.co.uk)

There is still a little time left, but it doesn’t look like Apple iPhone users will see Adobe Systems and Sun Microsystems get Flash and Java up and running on Apple’s handheld device by Christmas.

Although both Sun and Adobe have expressed a desire to back the iPhone for nearly a year, neither the Flash Player nor Java Virtual Machine run on the device. And it appears that little to no progress is being made. Sun and Adobe, the chief proponents of the Java and Flash platforms, respectively, repeat what they’ve said all year: that they are still working to get their software platforms running on the trendy phone. Apple, for its part, did not respond to numerous inquiries about the iPhone from InfoWorld.

The European Union is more receptive to Oracle’s acquisition of Sun, now that Oracle has outlined some details on how it plans to preserve mySQL – a concern and sticking point for European regulators who have been holding up the acquisition.

Sources tell the Wall Street Journal that regulators reacted positively to a Monday announcement by Oracle that addressed the EU’s concerns. Approval by the EU is the last big hurdle for Oracle and Sun before the deal can be finalized. The U.S. has already given its blessing. The Journal reports:

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• E.U. Signals Improved View of Oracle-Sun Deal (nytimes.com)
• Oracle commits: MySQL will have a future (slumpedoverkeyboarddead.com)

Oracle said that it “has engaged in constructive discussions with the European Commission regarding the concerns expressed by the commission about the Oracle/Sun Microsystems transaction, and in particular the maintenance of MySQL as a competitive force in the database market.” Oracle then offered a 10-point list of commitments it says it will guarantee if the acquisition is sanctioned.

Oracle on Dec. 14 released its first public statement in weeks regarding the pending acquisition of Sun Microsystems, attempting to reassure the European Commission and Sun’s MySQL development community that it will maintain — and even enhance — Sun’s successful stewardship of the open source database.

In its statement to the press, Oracle said that it “has engaged in constructive discussions with the European Commission regarding the concerns expressed by the commission about the Oracle/Sun Microsystems transaction, and in particular the maintenance of MySQL as a competitive force in the database market.”

Oracle then offered a 10-point list of commitments it says it will guarantee for five years if the acquisition is sanctioned.

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• MySQL Creator Wants War with Oracle (apache.sys-con.com)
• E.U. Signals Improved View of Oracle-Sun Deal (nytimes.com)

Michael Widenius, creator of MySQL database, which could become the stumbling block for Oracle in its Sun takeover, has launched an Internet campaign trying to line up MySQL users to stop the deal.

The European Commission (EC) has objected to Oracle’s $7 billion bid for Sun, saying the purchase may limit competition in the database market.

Widenius said he launched the campaign — asking users to e-mail their view of the deal to the commission — in response to Oracle mobilizing its big customers to tell the commission at last week’s hearings that the takeover was not anti-competitive.

Antitrust lawyers have said enlisting major companies to express support at a hearing could sway doubtful regulators.

MySQL has been a rare major newcomer to the global database market — dominated by technology heavyweights Oracle, IBM and Microsoft — pushing down prices of databases and their maintenance.

Widenius, one of the most respected developers of open-source software, left Sun earlier this year to set up his own small database firm Monty Program Ab earlier this year.

The Sun acquisition would give Oracle MySQL as Sun bought MySQL for $1 billion in 2008.

“With your support, there is a good chance that the EC could prevent this from happening or demand Oracle to change the terms for MySQL or give other guarantees to the users. Without your support, it might not,” Widenius wrote in his blog. (http://monty-says.blogspot.com/2009/12/help-saving-mysql.html)

“The EC is our last big hope now because the U.S. government approved the deal while Europe is still worried about the effects,” Widenius said.

Oracle has to submit final proposals to address the Commission’s concerns by the end of Monday, in order to allow the regulator enough time to reach a conclusion about the deal by the January 27 deadline. (Reporting by Tarmo Virki, editing by Martin Golan)

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• Oracle opponent cheers delay mySQL decision (ecombizcenter.blogspot.com)
• MySQL Creator Wants War with Oracle (java.sys-con.com)

Sun Microsystems has delivered a new beta release of its Java Store with a new look and feel and new account and payment options.

Sun Microsystems has delivered a new beta release of its Java Store with a new look and feel and new account and payment options.

The Java Store is a consumer-focused storefront for distributing Java applications. The Java Store lets consumers discover and safely acquire community-provided applications, Sun said.

Japanese systems maker enters the cloud-building market relatively late. Most of the larger IT hardware and software companies already have stakes in the ground, and there are a large number of startups already at the party.

Fujitsu announced Dec. 8 that it is joining the ever-expanding “cloud-builder” club of Tier 1 IT companies.

The Japanese systems maker, which like IBM and Hewlett-Packard already has most of the components of cloud system-building abiding in its own warehouses, has begun offering what it calls “end-to-end enterprise cloud services” aimed at midrange businesses, larger enterprises and ISVs in North America.

Fujitsu launched enterprise cloud services in Japan and EMEA earlier this year.

Fujitsu, which has partnered for years with Sun Microsystems on Solaris deployments but interacts equally well in Windows, Oracle, and Linux environments, has long subscribed to the open systems concept.