Sad chapter in the story of Larry's latest toy

NET RESULTS:Sun Microsystems were masters of the tech universe - until the arrival of technologies running on cheaper PCs

WHILE IT was meant as a jovial quip, there was still something just a bit sad in hearing Sun Microsystems co-founder and former chief executive Scott McNealy refer to his company as Oracle chief executive Larry Ellison's "toy".

On stage at Oracle OpenWorld on Sunday evening with Sun luminary and Java creator James Gosling as well as Ellison, McNealy made the comment after Ellison outlined all the things he plans to do with his new acquisition. "I think Larry is going to like his new toy," interjected McNealy.

Thousands filling the huge main hall at San Francisco's Moscone convention centre for Oracle's annual conference must have flinched inwardly at that comment. Not that many years ago, it seemed more likely that Sun would have been playing with Oracle rather than vice versa.

There was a time in the 1980s and 1990s when Sun Microsystems seemed masters of the tech universe. Their workstations made geeks drool, they had come up with a very hip technology called Java, and their chief executive Scott McNealy gave smart, funny keynotes at technology conferences that always were extremely popular.

But things did not go well as the company crossed into the new Millennium. The dotcom era collapsed and, as a result, cheap second-hand Sun hardware flooded the market, flattening sales for years.

As the Noughties progressed, companies opted for other technologies, running on cheaper PCs. Meanwhile, making money off its open source projects proved an elusive goal for Sun. The company was admired, but had years of unprofitable quarters. In one painful 12-month stretch a year ago, its shares declined by 80 per cent in value.

Then along came Oracle's Larry Ellison and his very deep pockets to purchase once mighty Sun for the knock-down price of $7.4 billion (€4.9 billion).

Or, rather, try to. Though shareholders approved, and the US said fine, the acquisition is still being scrutinised by the European Union, none too sure it likes the idea of database giant Oracle gaining control of hugely popular Sun-owned open source database MySQL.

On Sunday, a frustrated Ellison took the opportunity to point out yet again that Sun is bleeding to the tune of $100 million a month while hoping for EU approval for the sale. Is that a realistic figure? Ellison isn't giving detailed breakdowns and he is a man known for hyperbole, so we are none the wiser as to its accuracy. One tends to think that if MySQL continues to be a problem for the EU, Oracle will hive it off rather than let it block the purchase.

In other Oracle happenings, the company continues to be a strong embracer of social media technologies at its OpenWorld event. OpenWorld a couple of years ago was the first mainstream conference I'd attended which gave bloggers entry, and equal standing, with members of the press.

The website for OpenWorld makes use of blogs, Flickr photo sets, streaming video, archive video including video highlights from talks, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter as well.

And then there's Lego. Okay, Lego isn't a social media technology but it is certainly great for social networking, going by a giant Lego artwork that was being created before conference-goers' eyes in one of the Moscone lounge areas.

Eric Harshbarger, described as a Lego artist (a job description I had been blissfully unaware of until now) was drawing friendly crowds as he assembled a six foot high image of Tux, the Linux penguin mascot. And he's a former Sun employee too. You wonder about the job path that leads to Lego artist.

One place where crowds were not wanted was in traffic jams, and this year, the traffic flow around Moscone appeared far better.

It seems San Franciscans have finally got used to the special city dispensation Ellison has managed to get over the past few years to close off the section of Howard Street that bisects the two halves of the Moscone centre.

Not that the City by the Bay is likely to complain about crowds and some minor inconvenience in the current economic climate. The revenue from OpenWorld - its single largest event, booking the most hotel bed nights this year - is very welcome.

More than 40,000 are here this week and their activities are worth more than $100 million into the San Francisco economy.

Then there's the closing "appreciation event" which is so large that it has moved from an indoor venue to an outdoor event on man-made Treasure Island, out in San Francisco Bay. This year the headline act is Aerosmith.

Perhaps nothing indicates how successful the massive agglomeration of acquisitions that is Oracle has become, as the fact that Aerosmith plays your closing night geek party.

klillington@irishtimes.com

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