Earlier this month I was optimistic that Google and Oracle would come to terms on Android before JavaOne 2011.
After all, Larry Page CEO of Google and Larry Ellison, CEO of Oracle were set to sit down to figure out a mediated settlement. With those guys at the table, surely they could have seen eye-to-eye and reach a deal that would satisfy both companies.
That didn’t turn out to be the case, as I was completely wrong.
To date, no settlement has been reached though the two Larry’s have met several times. The two companies are still in a mediation phase, but it’s unclear and I think unlikely that a deal will now be reached before JavaOne starts on October 2nd.
To boil down this case to its simplest terms, this is all about money — as most lawsuits are. Android has become the most successful mobile Java implementation in history and Oracle wants a piece of the action.
It would have been great to have Google participating at JavaOne, they have a lot to offer the Java community that goes far beyond Android. At this point, I think it’s worth speculating if this case will even be settled in time for JavaOne 2012. If there is a trial (which is somewhat likely), whatever the outcome there will also be an appeal. In my experience, that’s not something that tends to happen inside of a year.
It will be very interesting to see if Oracle CEO Larry Ellison mentions Google at all when he kicks off JavaOne’s sister conference OpenWorld. I suspect that if Ellison does the open Q&A that he traditionally does, someone will ask and Ellison has never been one to shy away from any question.
JavaOne 2011 runs October 2 through 6 in San Francisco.
