Microsoft could be a winner in Sun-Oracle deal

21.04.2009
Microsoft has had few critics more vocal than Oracle CEO Larry Ellison and Sun Chairman Scott McNealy. With their companies set to merge in a blockbuster US$7.4 billion deal announced Monday, is it time for Microsoft to worry?

In fact, the opposite may be true, some industry observers said.

If Oracle retools itself as a systems vendor, as it suggested that it might, that could put pressure on server vendors such as Dell and Hewlett-Packard to cozy up more with Microsoft, which does not operate a competing hardware business.