Yesterday Simon Phillips, chief open source office at Sun, now Oracle left his job. This marks another high profile former Sun, open source advocate that has left since the Oracle acquisition closed. I know Oracle has said that they will continue being a big open source supporter going forward. But with all of this talent going out the door, who is there to drive the boat?
The MySQL team has scattered to several different projects and companies. Of course Sun CEO Schwartz left in amid a Haiku Tweet. Now Phillips. You have to ask, are these folks leaving because they know something we don't? Are they not being made to feel welcome at Oracle? Or is just the usual out with the old, in with the new?
What does this mean to Java, MySQL, Open Solaris and all of the other projects Sun shepherded. Oracle can be a fine open source community member, but Sun's commitment to open source was unique. More questions, than answers I know. But we will have to wait and see how this turns out.
Without Oracle really stepping into Sun's shoes in a meaningful way, the entire open source movement will feel the loss.
Please visit the Google Subnet home page for more news, blogs and podcasts. Sign up for the weekly Google newsletter.More blog posts from Alan Shimel:
- Why you need an open source security information manager
- Bang, Zoom, Is Open Source The Right Way To The Moon?
- Are You Ready For An Open Source Car?
- World's first Open Source Restaurant
- Open Source: Why You Care
- Smartphones, the Next Great Open Source Battleground
- Are Quotas Good For Open Source?
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