VMWare acquires SpringSource

VMWare is acquiring SpringSource for around half a billion dollars.For the people who wonder what is a Virtualization/Datacenter has to do with a Java Enterprise application software company, you are not alone. I was too puzzled when I heard the news. Whatever the explanation CEO of VMWare gives or SpringSource's CEO gives it doesnt somehow add up. Yaa, these kind of acquisitions are not uncommon nowadays. Oracle's ongoing acquisition of Sun is one such example. Whereas Oracle is a Enterprise Software company, Sun is primarily a Hardware company. What on earth is Oracle going to do with Sun's RISC based assets...? Word is that Oracle has already decided to shelve Sun's ambitious ROCK processor project. Now will same sort of thing will happen with some of the assets of Spring Source. We will eventually see. For me, I would be happy someone buys redhat and keep a check on the self proclaimed guardian of Open source movement.