Following a jury finding that Google had not infiringed upon Oracles patents, a development described as a near disaster for the database company, Judge William Aslup has ruled that the Java APIs cannot be copyrighted. That leaves Oracle with only the 9 lines of rangeCheck code and a handfull of decompiled test files to show for the massivecourt case. CEO Larry Ellison remains confident, claiming that the aquisition of Java creator Sun has still paid for itself.
posted by Artw on Jun 1, 2012 - 41 comments

"The sun is waking up from a deep slumber, and in the next few years we expect to see much higher levels of solar activity." Dr. Richard Fisher and other sun-gazing scientists recently discussed the upcoming peak in the 11-year sunspot cycle. Due to the ever-increasing humans' reliance on electrical systems, the storm could leave a multi-billion pound damage bill and "potentially devastating" problems for governments. Constant improvements in satellite designs have assisted in bracing for a solar superstorm, an effort that comes in part by studying the impacts records of activity from past peaks in solar storms. System limits are set based on significant solar storm-triggered events in the past, though the largest magnetic storm on record was before the modern understanding of solar events. The solar storm of 1859, also known as The Carrington Event, when "telegraphs ran on electric air," was experienced around the world. [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief on Jun 15, 2010 - 52 comments

"Financial crisis
Stalled too many customers
CEO no more."

Sun Microsystems chief executive Jonathan Schwartz resigns via twitter haiku.
posted by Artw on Feb 4, 2010 - 62 comments

The next Java frontier: your car. Sun Microsystems announced Monday it would partner with General Motors' dashboard technology division, OnStar, in an effort to make Java the computing standard for the automotive industry.
posted by Zool on Oct 16, 2000 - 5 comments

Big companies overheard on the playground:
Sun: we put the dot in dot com!
Microsoft: Naw-uh! You did not!
Sun: We did too! Your OS is stupid!
MS: No, your OS is stupid!
Sun: Quit copying me! You always copy me!
MS: No, you're copying me! stupid-head!
Sun: Stupid-head!? You're so busted for that!
MS: Am not! I can do anything I want!

These are adults? I'm just glad I'm not an investor in either company.
posted by mathowie on Apr 10, 2000 - 0 comments