[Info-vax] HP wins Oracle Itanium case

[JF Mezei]

johnson.eric at gmail.com wrote:

> Wow.  I am very surprised.  I really thought it would have to swing the
> other way.

I am not surprised.  HP has not yet breached its side of the contract
since IA64 boxes are still being produced and there is at least 2 new
IA64 chips in the pipeline.

Now, had Oracle signed a contract where its obligations ended "when it
becomes obvious that IA64 is being EOLed", then the judge would have had
to really consider the evidence presented by Oracle. But as it stands,
even when HP formally announces the end of the line after Kittson with
last sale 3 years after that, Oracle is still bound by the contract it
signed to produce for IA64 until that last sale.

So Oracle loses out because in the future, it will be bound by that
contract to produce new versions even though nobody buys new IA64
systems. But this will give more time for HP-UX customers to migrate to
another platform and reduce the dramatic loss of customers experienced
by BCS in the last year.


Oracle has already hurt HP's BCS finances and image in a serious way.
And as long as there are no penalties for that, Oracle still comes out
ahead.