Oracle Finally Acquires BEA Systems
Published January 16th, 2008 Under News, Software Development | Leave a Comment
After a small one month battle with an offer at $17 for share last October, Oracle Corporation and BEA Systems announced today they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Oracle will acquire all outstanding shares of BEA for $19.375 per share in cash. The offer is valued at approximately $8.5 billion, or $7.2 billion net of BEA’s cash on hand of $1.3 billion. It seems that the will of certain BEA investors to make a substantial gain and the fact that Oracle proposed a better price allowed finally the deal to be concluded, even if BEA board previously asked for $21. The current stock market situation is different from last October and this could be financially a good deal for BEA shareholders, also because it seems that nobody was ready to pay more than the previous Oracle offer.
What benefits could Oracle achieve with this deal? Technically, it will acquire Web server and transaction monitoring software expertise. Even if Oracle has already its own set of products competing with BEA Systems, its technical reputation is a little bit lower in this area. Combined market share put Oracle in the number one position in the middleware market. However, Oracle will have to play it tactfully to keep the core technical team behind BEA products. Financially, the acquisition could provide additional revenues, a strategy Oracle has followed these past years with PeopleSoft and other targets. In this area, Oracle seems to transform itself in a Computer Associates-like company, more driven by financial interests than technical capabilities.
In the winners side of this situation, we could certainly find IBM and Red Hat’s JBoss, as uncertainty about the future of a product is always a strong topic that buyers will consider when the look for their Web server. Also some companies do not like to have too much of their software infrastructure locked to a single supplier. Losers will be BEA Systems customers, because a change of ownership always rise questions on the future roadmap of the products and the availability of knowledgeable people to provide some support. This is mainly true for BEA’s Tuxedo transaction processing product, an old software that doesn’t seem to fit into Oracle product portfolio.
Agile Software Development. Cooler Heads Must Prevail
Published January 11th, 2008 Under Quotes, Software Development | Leave a Comment
I have been distraught at the level of dogmatism, bigotry, contempt, or just plain ignorance that I witness in the agile world. I am not blaming the topnotch agilistas, though they sometimes, and just for effect in writings and presentations, reduce their messages to their essential bones, to the slogan level, and they omit the context—both source and applicability.
As agility is crossing the chasm, however—as you can see if you attend any big software synod such as SD East or West or OOPSLA (Object-Oriented Programming, Systems, Languages, and Applications)—many more people say (or repeat) rather uninformed messages with a strong conviction and little background, scoffing at anybody who dares to question their claims, even if it’s just a clarification about scope or context.
For writing these words, I’ll be shot dead as a traitor to the agilism cause, a defender of the waterfall church, a dinosaur, the über-curmudgeon, though I do value agility or agile practices in the proper context, and with the tainted glasses of my own 33-plus years of experience. But I would like my friends and colleagues to keep cooler heads, to question assumptions, not assume too much of a common, shared mental model, and contextualize what they hear, read, say, or write.
Source: Philippe Kruchten, Voyage in the Agile Memeplex
These are word of experience from Philippe Kruchten. It should be repeated that there is no silver bullet in software development and that many approaches will fail in specific contexts when their essence is not understood, but rather people are just trying to apply some recipes without intelligence and common sense. Every new approach will have its share of zealots that will apply them as strict religious rules. I am a strong believer that the success of software development depends more on adapting existing tools and processes to specific situations and not the contrary.
Agile 2008 Conference – Call for Participation
Published January 10th, 2008 Under Conferences | Leave a Comment
The Agile 2008 Conference that will take place August 4-8 2008 in Toronto is inviting agile practicionners to propose ideas for conference sessions via an online submissions system. Read more
New Conferences Partnerships
Published January 9th, 2008 Under Conferences, Methods & Tools | Leave a Comment
Methods & Tools is proud to have been chosen as media partner by the following software development conferences:
EclipseCon 2008 March 17-20 2008, Santa Clara, CA, USA
TheServerSide Java Symposium, March 26-28 2008, Las Vegas, USA
SPICE Days 2008 June 23-25 2008, Prague, Czech Republic
The Toilet Paper Theory Applied To Software Development
Published January 7th, 2008 Under Humour, Software Development | 4 Comments
There are many configurations for developers to work together, but one of the common things that you will share with your colleagues is the toilet. Visiting the lavatories is also something that you will most likely to do every day. You could think of this as an intimate and mandatory version of the continuous integration paradigm. The toilet paper is one of the essential and ephemeral resources for this activity. Benjamin Franklin is quoted to have said “In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes.” I would personally add a third thing: toilet paper rolls reaching the end of their existence. What follows this event could give you an interesting view on the culture of the hosting organization and how its developers are working. Read more
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