Disclaimer: While I do work for Oracle, I’m not “in the know” concerning any corporate strategies, and any comments that follow should be taken as just as speculative as those of an outsider.
That being said, what is with the recent spate of Oracle/ Ubuntu Linux speculation?
The speculation is currently pretty vague, if you ask me. The most likely outcome, if it were accurate, would probably simply be some sort of certification or assurance that Ubuntu Linux will be a supported platform for Oracle databases and applications. Oracle would offer support for customers who choose to run Oracle software on Ubuntu, and that would be about the end of it.
That, to me, seems most likely, and it isn’t really that much of a huge news story. Given that in the last year we’ve seen such heavyweights as IBM and HP pledge some level of support for Ubuntu, it is probably accepted by now that Ubuntu is a Linux distribution which can be, will be, and is, used in the enterprise.
Now, what would be a bigger surprise is if Oracle started selling support for Desktop Ubuntu, or some sort of Oracle-ized Ubuntu distribution of its own. That would be interesting and worth watching, but I’m not yet convinced that we’ll see that — though I think it would be pretty cool if we did. Desktop Linux needs a heavyweight, and so far Novell doesn’t seem to be succeeding at becoming that heavyweight, though not for lack of trying.
For me, I’m going to continue to cheer from the sidelines for anyone that is supporting Linux, but the Oracle-Ubuntu rumors seem, so far, to be just that: rumors, not a lot of substance.
