Paul Krill
Editor at Large

Oracle-Ubuntu rumor fizzles

news
Oct 25, 20062 mins

Rumors of some sort of Linux distribution arrangement between Oracle and Ubuntu have proven to be just that: rumors.

Such an announcement had been widely anticipated at the Oracle OpenWorld conference in San Francisco this week.

“We’ve never talked to Ubuntu,” said Edward Screven, chief corporate architect for Oracle, during a press conference at OpenWorld on Wednesday afternoon. Instead, Oracle announced plans to support Red Hat Linux, cutting onto Red Hat’s turf.

But some were seeking even more. At one point during the press conference, one questioner noted the existence of free, open source databases like MySQL and, while beginning to ask when Oracle would offer such as a database, was quickly cut off.

“The only thing we’re announcing today is support for Linux,” Screven said. The company also will not disclose source code for its own products.

“This is something our customers have asked us to do for quite a while,” said Bob Wynne, Oracle vice president of corporate communications, of Wednesday’s Linux announcement.

Screven said the adoption of Linux in the enterprise has been too slow and that Oracle’s move was a natural extension of progress for Linux and the use of Linux on commodity hardware.

Still, Screven acknowledged Oracle’s Linux revenue streams have not amounted to much, relatively speaking. “The amount of revenue in the Linux business compared to all our other businesses is small but the strategic importance is large,” he said.

Paul Krill

Paul Krill is editor at large at InfoWorld. Paul has been covering computer technology as a news and feature reporter for more than 35 years, including 30 years at InfoWorld. He has specialized in coverage of software development tools and technologies since the 1990s, and he continues to lead InfoWorld’s news coverage of software development platforms including Java and .NET and programming languages including JavaScript, TypeScript, PHP, Python, Ruby, Rust, and Go. Long trusted as a reporter who prioritizes accuracy, integrity, and the best interests of readers, Paul is sought out by technology companies and industry organizations who want to reach InfoWorld’s audience of software developers and other information technology professionals. Paul has won a “Best Technology News Coverage” award from IDG.

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