[Info-vax] HP wins Oracle Itanium case

[JF Mezei]

Neil Rieck wrote:
> Another article on the same news item:
> 
> http://www.zdnet.com/hp-wins-over-oracle-in-itanium-legal-battle-7000001992/

I am somewhat surprised (but only somewhat) that Oracle would appeal.

The above article does have the "can't decide on its own" wording which
implies that if HP agrees, then Oracle can stop development for IA64.

Surely Oracle knew the exact wording of the contract it signed before
announcing the end of development for IA64. It would have known that the
contract binds it until end of sales, not the rumour of EOL of IA64.

I know that there are legal requirements for support for at least 5
years after end of sales or something akin to this.  Are there
requirements to announce end of sales X years before it happens ?

If Oracle does appeal, it will just force HP to delay making formal
announcement of EOL. Whether that forces a push back of end of sales or
not remains to be seen.

If the contract is truly binding until end of sales, HP might get back
at Oracle by keeping one IA64 model in the order books for 10 years and
forcing Oracle to continue to release its products for HP-UX for 10 years.

In 2010, it was already blatantly obvious that IA64 didn't have a bright
future and that the 8086 is where the server action is at.  Was Oracle
so dumb as to sign a contract until "end of sales" without a "or EOL
announcement of the Itanium platform" ?