Darryl Taft with eWeek has assembled a slide presentation entitled "10 Reasons Why Sun is Still Relevant (an One Reason Why Not)". He states the questioning of Sun's relevance began when acquisition of the company started back in April with Oracle's proposed buyout.

"It's become a critical issue as Sun has continued to hemorrhage cash as Oracle has faced delay after delay in getting regulatory approval of the deal in Europe," he writes. "But there are still a lot of factors that demonstrate how Sun's products and technology remain relevant and in demand in the IT industry. This eWEEK slide show illustrates why Sun still has a strong market influence."

In short, the 10 reasons identified are:

1) Java

Say what you will about Java, but Java is one of the most successful and widely used programming languages ever. It is not going anywhere any time soon.

2) MySQL

Whatever happens with the Oracle/Sun deal, MySQL is a gem of a technology that has a loyal user base. MySQL is the world's most popular open-source database software, with more than 100 million copies of its software downloaded or distributed throughout its history.

3) The Sun Patent Portfolio

If nothing else, Sun's patent portfolio represents a gold mine of opportunity...The Sun portfolio includes patents for key technologies such as hardware components, chips, operating systems, networking, developer tooling, Web technologies, utilities and more.

4) Open Source

Sun offers Java and supporting technologies such as the GlassFish application server, the NetBeans tools suite for Java developers and the OpenSolaris operating system, among many other open-source offerings.

5) JavaFX

JavaFX is an expressive client platform for creating and delivering rich Internet experiences across a variety of different screens. It combines the best capabilities of the Java platform with comprehensive, immersive media functionality into an intuitive and comprehensive, one-stop development environment.

6) Java Store

The Java Store is a JavaFX-powered storefront that provides an easy and secure means of discovering and acquiring compelling Java and JavaFX applications.

7) The Sun Brain Trust

Sun maintains a deep bench of top-shelf technical talent, including James Gosling, the creator of the Java language. Other notable Sun technologists include Guy Steele, Greg Papadopoulos, Andy Bechtolsheim, Ian Murdock and others...

8) Sun's Stewardship of the Java Community Process

Though oft-criticized as being heavy-handed, Sun's stewardship of the Java Community Process has helped shape and evolve the Java language and platform over the years.

9) Sun's Relationship with Developers

The success of the annual JavaOne conference indicates just how well Sun has connected with Java developers. The show has been a major success year after year.

10) Sun's support for High Performance Computing (HPC)

As of November 2009, Sun doubled its number of entries on the Top 500 Supercomputing Sites list, since the June 2009 list, with a total of 11 deployments providing nearly 2 Petaflops.

Reason Why Sun Is No Longer Relevant

Oracle's acquisition of Sun has rendered the company relatively toothless until the deal is finally approved, as it is not yet clear what Oracle plans to do with all of the Sun technologies.

More Information

eWeek slide presentation [...read more...]

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