ESB consolidation - Progress buys Iona

I guess Iona was one of the first well known Irish software companies, and now it must be one of the last. It has succumbed to Progress Software for $106M. Paul Freemantle beat me to the news that Progress now owns or is a major committer for at least 4 different ESBs - Sonic, Artix, C24 and ActiveMQ/Camel/ServiceMix (plus Actional if you like) - hey, that's more than Oracle isn't it? (or maybe not...).

First come first severed (sic)

A little off topic perhaps, but sometimes the illiteracy of business communications just amazes me. This is from a Jobserve recruitment ad:

• A large railway company are looking to hire a Oracle Developer to join there expanding company on a 3 month rolling contract.

Next comes a fairly detailed set of technical requirements; as it seems to make sense, it was no doubt supplied by the said railway company. Finally the ad ends with this appeal:

• The is major role and candidates will be selected on matching skills and on first come first severed basis

Sounds painful! Seems unfair to be severed for being the first response. Perhaps I should wait a week before applying?

Vote now to open up Metalink!

Richard Harding has proposed on Oracle Mix that Metalink should be opened up:

There is goldmine of useful information in Metalink and having access to it would optimize the efficiency of people using Oracle toolsets, in my opinion enhancing productivity and by inference Oracle adoption globally which would be win win for everyone.

I've expressed the same thoughts myself in the past. So all of you Oracle professionals who would benefit from access to Metalink but are not included in your employer's arrangements (especially for freelancers like me) - go and vote!

Another blogger

Good to see Mark Bobak blogging - he's one of the stronger contributors to the Oracle-L mail list. Thanks to Doug Burns for spotting his blog.

BEA Aqualogic broken up

The Register reports on how Oracle is going about the integration / breakup of BEA's Aqualogic SOA products (splitting them between ex-Stellent and Oracle Fusion product lines). Oracle's actions are described as "firm but fair".