I had to check the date on the report when I first saw reports of the Microsoft/Sun Settlement to be sure it wasn’t another April fools. If you haven’t seen it, MS will pay Sun $1.6 billion over some years to settle the Java case and some patent infringement claims. On the same day, Sun also announced it would lay off 3,300 employees.
This certainly appears to signal the end of Sun wearing the white hat, fighting the good fight. Most people speculate that this allows the two firms to unite in a battle against a common enemy: Linux and open software. I don’t know the motives, other than survival for Sun. One has to wonder what this means for Sun’s Liberty Alliance.
These are indeed strange days.
