Oracle and Sun deal faces more problems

Further pressure is being piled onto Oracle's acquisition of Sun Microsystems.

The deal is currently undergoing an anti-trust probe from the European Commission to see whether it is fair for Oracle to own both its database and Sun's MySQL.

However Neelie Kroes, European Commissioner for Competition Policy, is unhappy with the progress so far.

A spokesperson from the commission told IT PRO: "Kroes met with Oracle President Safra Catz in Brussels on 21st October."

"Commissioner Kroes expressed her disappointment that Oracle had failed to produce, despite repeated requests, either hard evidence that there were no competition problems or, alternatively, proposals for a remedy to the competition problems identified by the Commission."

Thy added: "Commissioner Kroes reiterated the Commission's willingness to move quickly towards a final decision but underlined that a solution lies in the hands of Oracle."

To add to this, the Open Rights Group has just issued a letter to Kroes, along with Richard Stallman and the Knowledge Ecology International, calling for MySQL to be sold off as part of the deal between the two companies.

The letter said: "Oracle seeks to acquire MySQL to prevent further erosion of its share of the market for database software licences and services, and to protect the high prices now charged for its proprietary database software licences and services."

"If Oracle is allowed to acquire MySQL, it will predictably limit the development of the functionality and performance of the MySQL software platform, leading to profound harm to those who use MySQL software to power applications."

Earlier this week, Sun announced that 3,000 jobs would be cut at the company, roughly 10 per cent of its workforce, due to the delays in the deal between the two companies.

IT PRO contacted Oracle, which declined to comment on the story.

We also contacted Sun, but it hadn't responded to our request at the time of publication.