The first quarter of 2008 has brought about 2 acquisitions, Sun acquiring MySQL and Oracle acquiring BEA, along with talk of a third, Microsoft acquiring Yahoo. I don’t really understand Sun’s need for MySQL, or MySQL’s need for Sun, but they’re both open source proponents so it seems like a good fit. There has been fear that MySQL will now only run on Solaris, but given Sun’s track record with Java, I seriously doubt Sun would pull the plug on Linux or Windows. One thing I would expect is for Java developers to now choose MySQL over Oracle or Postgres because of this new relationship.

The Oracle/BEA merger makes a lot of sense. They are both Java shops and the application servers, database servers, and development tools that Oracle now has to offer pits the company head to head with Microsoft and IBM.

Microsoft’s desire to purchase Yahoo is further evidence that Microsoft is scared of Google and is desperately trying to stop the eventual downfall of software’s Roman Empire. Microsoft has stated that they will do anything in their power to acquire Yahoo, indicating that a hostile takeover is imminent if Yahoo does not accept their “friendly” offer. My question is what will Microsoft do with the Java shop? If any of Yahoo’s developers do decide to stay I doubt they’d take kindly to converting their applications to J# and ASP.NET. I don’t see these companies mixing cultures, but Microsoft has enough developers that is probably doesn’t need Yahoo’s.