Oracle buys Sun!

Such a big news:

On April 20, 2009, Oracle announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire Sun Microsystems (Sun). The proposed transaction is subject to Sun stockholder approval, certain regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions. Until the deal closes, each company will continue to operate independently, and it is business as usual.

The acquisition combines best-in-class enterprise software and mission-critical computing systems. Oracle plans to engineer and deliver an integrated system—applications to disk—where all the pieces fit and work together so customers do not have to do it themselves. Customers benefit as their system integration costs go down while system performance, reliability and security go up.

(Reprint)The Basic Concept of Software as a Service

The combination of ever-more-abundant bandwidth, increasingly powerful processors, and inexpensive storage is broadening the choices for designing, deploying, and using software: in devices, in computers, on servers in corporate data centers, and on the Internet. Business solutions can be delivered and consumed in all of these ways—either singly or in combination—to provide the best user experience and the most business value.

Software as a Service (SaaS)—meaning delivering software over the Internet—is increasingly popular for its ability to simplify deployment and reduce customer acquisition costs; it also allows developers to support many customers with a single version of a product. SaaS is also often associated with a "pay as you go" subscription licensing model.