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Ballmer, IBM Surprised By Oracle-Sun Deal

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the i-didn't-see-it-coming dept.

Geon Lasli writes "Reporters caught up with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer in Moscow to get his take on Oracle's deal to buy Sun Microsystems for US$7.4 billion. Ballmer was at a loss for words: 'I need to think about it. I am very surprised.' According to a source, IBM hadn't given up on purchasing Sun and was blindsided by Oracle's move. I guess IBM must be regretting playing tough 2 weeks ago. Unknown to outsiders, Sun had probably found the Oracle lifeboat before they decided to pull the plug on the deal."

21 of 324 comments (clear)

  1. I Feel His Pain by eldavojohn · · Score: 5, Funny

    You see, Ballmer was supposed to get up at 3am and bid $7,400,000,001.00 for Sun on CorporateBay.com. Instead he just threw a chair at his alarm clock and went back to sleep.

    Same thing happened to me with a $1.5 thousand Rickenbacker 4003 bass two weeks ago. And now I regret not having that sweet sweet axe in my hands right now just as much as Ballmer regrets not being able to fire whole divisions when their managers don't know the entire lyrics to American Pie by Don McLean. We're both only human, buddy.

    --
    My work here is dung.
  2. Is this good? by nicolas.kassis · · Score: 5, Funny

    I can really decide if I like the fact that Oracle is going to be bullying Microsoft going forward or hate the fact that Oracle is probably more evil than Microsoft now.

    1. Re:Is this good? by nschubach · · Score: 4, Funny

      I just hate everyone. It makes everything much easier.

      --
      Every time I start to have faith in humanity, I ruin it by driving to work between 7 and 8 am.
  3. Bill Borg is dead... by yogibaer · · Score: 1, Funny

    ...long live the Larry Borg.

    1. Re:Bill Borg is dead... by oliderid · · Score: 3, Funny
      • 1 EMPTY "SUN";
      • 2 DROP "SPARK";
      • 3 UPDATE assets set turnover="Big money!" where product like "Java";
      • 4 DELETE from assets where product like "MySQL"
      • ???
      • Profits!
  4. I still can't believe it... by OglinTatas · · Score: 3, Funny

    I'm as surprised as he. I still can't believe it. It won't be real for me until Taco posts the dupe here on /.

    --
    More music, fewer hits
    1. Re:I still can't believe it... by Jesus_666 · · Score: 2, Funny

      Stop hogging! No wonder the rest of us have supply problems.

      --
      USE HOT GRITS WITH STATUE OF NATALIE PORTMAN (NAKED AND PETRIFIED)
  5. A Star Wars quote is appropriate now... by JamesP · · Score: 3, Funny

    The Emperor: You have paid the price for your lack of vision.

    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086190/quotes

    --
    how long until /. fixes commenting on Chrome?
  6. OH yes.. by RulerOf · · Score: 5, Funny

    anyone who doesn't know all the lyrics to American Pie deserves to be shot.

    Shot...with a cannon...

    ...That fires chairs.

    --
    Boot Windows, Linux, and ESX over the network for free.
    1. Re:OH yes.. by explosivejared · · Score: 4, Funny

      Oh my... we have already used one chair throwing reference in this thread. A more appropriate response would have been, "I imagine that is one alarm clock that is about to get f**king killed!" Alternatively, "Ballmer's lack of reply is most likely due to the torment caused by the voices in his head switching their chant from 'developers, developers, developers...' to 'Oracle, Oracle, Oracle...,' would have worked as well. Please practice proper meme etiquette in the future.

      --
      I got a catholic block.
    2. Re:OH yes.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      ...and the good'ol devs were drinkin pepsi and sprite, singin' "this will be the day that I'm fired"?

    3. Re:OH yes.. by jd · · Score: 2, Funny

      *sticks tounge out*

      Still doesn't work, as you can't throw the zero'th chair. You'd have subtract one more. So there! Nyah!

      --
      It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
    4. Re:OH yes.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Ballmer is such a visionary that he is most likely amazed the sun comes up each morning.

    5. Re:OH yes.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      That's actually GNU\MEME...

      I see you are a Windows user.

  7. Re:It speaks volumes that they were caught out... by Sockatume · · Score: 4, Funny

    I imagine a heavy-set bald man standing in his office with a chair held above his head, ready to strike an rubber tree, when the messenger arrives. He pauses, bewildered, and softly puts the chair down to sit pensively, shaken to his very core.

    --
    No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
  8. Re:Surprise! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Are you sure you're a Java developer? Your speech patterns suggest that you've been under the influence of Perl

  9. Re:It speaks volumes that they were caught out... by Trailer+Trash · · Score: 3, Funny

    McNealy was extremely arrogant in walking away from IBM so you had to figure something was up.

    Yeah. I mean, it's not like McNealy's ever been arrogant in the past....

    --
    Do you have ESP?
  10. Re:Uh, no by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    I guess IBM must be regretting

    I don't think so, since they indicated that after deeper examination and further consideration, they weren't interested in Sun at any price.

    Yes, and I am happy of not winning the lottery last weekend because I would not know what to do with all that money.

    Suck it IBM!

  11. The Reason by kenp2002 · · Score: 4, Funny

    The reason Ballmer was speechless is he forgot Oracle was still around or was suprised Oracle had that kind of money. Take your pick...

    --
    -=[ Who Is John Galt? ]=-
  12. Re:Well they've got a lot of nerve by Locke2005 · · Score: 5, Funny

    True, but he IS one of the few CEOs that has his own usenet newsgroup: alt.balmer.developers.developers.developers!

    --
    I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
  13. Re:Ballmer's actual words by mario_grgic · · Score: 3, Funny

    You mean JDevelopers, JDevelopers, JDevelopers

    --
    As the island of our knowledge grows, so does the shore of our ignorance.