JavaZone 2010 promotional video
Published June 25th, 2010 Under Humour | Leave a Comment
The very very very funny story of a young Java developer growing up in a .NET family.
http://jz10.java.no/java-4-ever-trailer.html
Microsoft Withdraws Proposal to Acquire Yahoo!
Published May 5th, 2008 Under News, Software Development | Leave a Comment
Microsoft Corp announced on May 3rd that it has withdrawn its proposal to acquire Yahoo!. “We continue to believe that our proposed acquisition made sense for Microsoft, Yahoo! and the market as a whole. Our goal in pursuing a combination with Yahoo! was to provide greater choice and innovation in the marketplace and create real value for our respective stockholders and employees,” said Steve Ballmer, chief executive officer of Microsoft. Microsoft offered to buy Yahoo! at $31-per-share offer in February. Microsoft had then upped its bid to $33, but then withdrew from the talks when Yang asked for $37.
Many think that Yahoo! refused Microsoft offer because the company thinks that it could conclude a better deal with other partners. Yahoo has just tested an advertising partnership with Google. A tie-up with Google should help boost Yahoo’s operating performance in the near term, the company focusing only on content providing and no more on advertising management. But in the long term, it sounds like abandoning a very promising source of revenues to a competitor. Yahoo could also consider a deal with another Internet media and advertising major, such as Time Warner’s AOL.
The clear winner of this battle is Google, because the Microsoft-Yahoo! alliance could be the only current thread to its online advertising market dominance. It has to be said however that beyond the plain market share numbers, the integration of Yahoo! and Microsoft employees was considered less than easy.
Microsoft is left alone to find a substantial new growth engine. The company has done in these recent years a lot of “me-to” initiatives (XBox, Zune, Silverlight, MSN), trying to emulate the success of other companies, but it had never reached the success it was looking for, despite the vast amount of cash that it could invest in each new area. Its on-line division is currently loosing money.
If however Yahoo! doesn’t find rapidly a good strategic fit, Microsoft could still come back with a new offer. And as Yahoo! stock price could drop back to the $20 level; investors will watch it with a different eye.
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2008/may08/05-03letter.mspx
What is Next for Yahoo! ?
Published February 12th, 2008 Under News | Leave a Comment
Yahoo! announced yesterday that “the Yahoo! Board of Directors has carefully reviewed Microsoft’s unsolicited proposal with Yahoo!’s management team and financial and legal advisors and has unanimously concluded that the proposal is not in the best interests of Yahoo! and our stockholders. After careful evaluation, the Board believes that Microsoft’s proposal substantially undervalues Yahoo! including our global brand, large worldwide audience, significant recent investments in advertising platforms and future growth prospects, free cash flow and earnings potential, as well as our substantial unconsolidated investments. The Board of Directors is continually evaluating all of its strategic options in the context of the rapidly evolving industry environment and we remain committed to pursuing initiatives that maximize value for all stockholders.”
What could be the different evolution from the current situation? There are three main solutions for Yahoo:
* looking for a higher Microsoft bid
* staying independent
* looking for another ally
It is true that Yahoo and Microsoft cultures are different and those Yahoo founders still own around 10% of the company. They are reluctant to turn over control to Microsoft in case of acquisition and we don’t see Steve Ballmer buying Yahoo without taking full control of it. The initial rejection is also part of the negotiation tactic for unsolicited proposals. There are many important institutional investors that own a large share of Yahoo’s capital and that will be happy to cash some money in uncertain market. This is even truer when Yahoo operational track record has not been very good these recent months. The cost cutting measures announced recently are not the sign that the company looks confident with its future strategy. Names for other allies like AOL have been mentioned in the press, but I don’t see any company that could significantly improve Yahoo’s Internet business. Only Microsoft and Yahoo combination could create today an important opposition to Google. My prediction is that either there will be an acquisition based on maybe better financial terms or Yahoo will try to continue to control its own future but will face a difficult 2008. Not only it will have to continue facing a strong Google opposition, but the overall advertising context should become negative with the slow-down of the US economy.
Why Microsoft Targets Yahoo!
Published February 1st, 2008 Under News, Software Development | Leave a Comment
Microsoft Corp today announced that it has made a proposal to Yahoo! to acquire all the outstanding shares of Yahoo! common stock for per share consideration of $31 representing a total equity value of approximately $44.6 billion. Microsoft’s proposal would allow the Yahoo! shareholders to elect to receive cash or a fixed number of shares of Microsoft common stock, with the total consideration payable to Yahoo! shareholders consisting of one-half cash and one-half Microsoft common stock. The offer represents a 62 percent premium above the closing price of Yahoo! common stock on Jan. 31, 2008. Microsoft said it sees at least $1 billion in cost savings generated by the combination, and intends to offer significant retention packages to Yahoo engineers, key leaders and employees. Yahoo! board is currently reviewing Microsoft unsolicited offer.
This is a surprise move but not so much. The main enemy is clear and common for both companies: it is Google. With this alliance, the new company will combine the software producing strength of Microsoft and the Internet power of Yahoo! Despite some recent efforts, Microsoft has never reached a critical mass in term of search engine and on-line advertising power. In this area, Yahoo! has seen its initial franchise decreased every quarter. Yahoo said last Tuesday that it would cut 1,000 jobs from its 14,300-member work force by mid-February, far more than had been expected.
Google is often the number one choice because advertisers and publishers have no real choice if they want to reach a very large audience or benefit from a very diversified supplier source. Yahoo! has yet to react to Microsoft’s offer, but even if the organizational culture may be different, this merger makes a lot of sense as far as business is concerned. This could also allow Microsoft to put more pressure in Google core on-line business and limit its expansion in the software market.
Sun is Buying MySQL
Published January 16th, 2008 Under News, Software Development | Leave a Comment
It should be something related to the sales period as the same day that Oracle scoop BEA Systems, Sun Microsystems announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire MySQL AB for approximately $1 billion.
MySQL was forecasted to set an IPO this year, but it seems that with the difficult conditions of the stock market its initial investors have chosen the easy solution to cash their money by letting Sun acquire the company.
For Sun, who recently changed its NASDAQ stock ticker from SUN to JAVA, it is a confirmation that the new strategic direction is in software and services. This move is therefore an important step to transform itself more in a service oriented company. With MySQL, Sun acquires a fast-growing company that has already a dual open source-commercial approach. Its estimated 2007 revenues were around $70 million. It is also a quick and good ticket to enter the database market already occupied by its competitors (Microsoft, Oracle and IBM). We suppose that Sun will not touch a lot to the existing MySQL organization. Being backed by a bigger company will bring an increased credibility and a better sales channel. Sun could also provide additional resources to improve its product so that it will become a more fierce competitor against Oracle.
The acquisition could also help Sun to propose its own alternative to the open source Linux/Apache/MySQL/PHP (LAMP) architecture. As it put its Solaris operating system in open source last year, it could propose a Solaris/Apache/MySQL/Java (SAMJ) pack that could be optimized. This could be a real alternative to the Windows ecosystem that is backed by a “old” company, thus allowing medium-size companies to have the impression to make a safer transition than with a pack of dispersed open source projects.
This move also changes the landscape for the other companies operating in the open source database area, like PostgreSQL and Ingres. However it is also a financial validation of the open source commercial model and some companies could end being the target of a bigger fish in the future. I will not be surprised if companies like Red Hat, HP… or Yahoo! will make some acquisitions in the sector in a near future.