At the risk of belaboring the obvious, I think it’s clear that the longer it takes for Oracle’s acquisition of Sun Microsystems to be approved by American and European regulators, the greater the hemorrhaging that will occur to Sun’s revenue and installed base of customers, which obviously represent future revenue for the company.
It’s bad enough for Sun hardware customers that they really can’t be sure of Oracle’s post-acquisition commitment to them or to the Sun products they’ve purchased and own. The situation is exacerbated by an extended regulatory review.
All the while, HP and IBM — not to mention others — are going after vulnerable Sun accounts with competitive-displacement and -upgrade programs. Many of these customers are making the switch away from Sun.
It’s not a landslide yet by any means, but it could get a lot worse if further complications arise in the regulatory-approvals processes.
A key date is September 3, which is when the European Commission will decide whether to pursue a 90-day detailed investigation into the deal.
Twilight in the Valley of the Nerds 