Oracle: destroyer of virtual worlds

Another of Sun Microsystem's almost-practical projects for Java has been shuttered now that Oracle holds the purse strings. Project Darkstar, an open-source application server catered specifically for massively multiplayer online games, will no longer receive Snoracle funding. The news was announced yesterday with a post to …

[Alan W. Rateliff, II]

Better than "Bennifer" and "Brangelina"

"Snoracle" -- Brilliant!

END OF LINE

Paris, brilliant!

[Kevin Hutchinson]

Will Lively Live?

What about the lovely Lively Kernel? http://research.sun.com/projects/lively/

I really hope it lives to see another month or two. It's sweet, especially with V8 and Webkit.

Just my 2c.

[Anonymous Coward]

Core business

I wonder what Sun thought it could gain - strictly in commercial terms - from supporting these proejcts. I think it's an excellent idea that companies sponsor these initiatives, I just don't understand how companies justify them to shareholders. For example, what has Sun gained from all the effort it put into Java and then giving it all away free ?

[Morten Bjoernsvik]

I definetely see the rationale behind this

Seems to me Sun never catched the point of cost-control. When you are so deep in the red, you have to drop "no profit for the near future projects" like this.

When you have engineers at the helm, not focusing on keeping the bottom line afloat, you drift into takeover waters. But it ment dropping the entire SPARC line years ago, something that was unthinkable by the Sun-mind hive until Oracle borded them.

With the latest erotions (sales down 50%, loss up). I'm surprised if anything survives the Oracle cost inspection other than their large protofolio of patents and some java core developments which is vital for other Oracle products.

[Oninoshiko]

the rationale behind this was:

getting java used for more stuff, by more people... I think it was suppose to be a loss-leader, butit never got you to buy anything! The problem with A LOT of Sun's projects like this is that it has a vary "Sluggy Freelance" approch:

1) make free MMO engine

2) ???

3) PROFIT!

As neat of an idea as this was, It should have been nixed a while ago.

To address your last paragraph, Oracle has commited to contenuing Sparc (it runs oracle well), Solaris (It runs oracle well), and java (it runs on Oracle). This type of stuff will spin off into community-projects, which is great for loss-leader projects anyway... you get all the "leader" with none of the "loss!"

I for one welcome our Microsoft-trash-searching, bigger-yacht-building overloards.

[Anonymous Coward]

Joe Kalert

Oracle have turned into right bastards since they lost the ITV teletext franchise...

[Random Coolzip]

Never did take those seriously

I was intrigued by Project Wonderland when I first heard of it, but I had some serious doubts when I found out i couldn't access it on my Ultra 20 because they didn't have a Solaris client...

Tried it a few months ago on a PC, and it was so laggy I couldn't do squat. Reminded me of the time I implemented a 3-D wireframe browser on a 286, except without the fun.

[Hugh McIntyre]

Re: Will Lively Live

The web site you link to says "The Lively Kernel is no longer an active project at Sun Microsystems. [....] The project has found a new home and new life at the Hasso Plattner Institute in Pottsdam".

I think that's your answer.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Never did take those seriously

"I was intrigued by Project Wonderland when I first heard of it, but I had some serious doubts when I found out i couldn't access it on my Ultra 20 because they didn't have a Solaris client..."

Except it uses the JRE and is entirely crossplatform. Try RTFM next time.