I think this is much better news for all than having IBM buy us.
I think it's good news for our customers, and for most employees of both firms.
Many implementations of Oracle are done on Sun, so having an even closer relationship means Oracle and Solaris can be integrated in an even better fashion.
I think this provides a better future outlook for SPARC/Solaris, meaning there will be an alternative to IBM or Microsoft in the datacenter for years to come.
My concern about an IBM buyout of Sun is that SPARC/Solaris was less likely in my opinion to be kept around.
There is great value in SPARC and Solaris, I think Java has been or may still be part of Oracle stored procedures, so I think this is a good deal for both parties and for customers.
I think there is less likelyhood for customers being stranded by this deal compared to an IBM/Sun pairing.
Not to mention concerns for folks I work with who are not technical, but managerial were at more risk of being laid off if the IBM/Sun deal went through.
I'm sure there are negatives as well. You either like Oracle or you don't.
But I think over all the positives outweigh the negatives.
I wonder if Oracle will find any use for the mySQL products owned by Sun. Perhaps reaching smaller customer installations where traditional Oracle offerings were too pricey to attract those customers.
It will be interesting to see how this all works out.