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Thursday April 01, 2010

The Apache Software Foundation Receives Approval for Sale to Oracle Corporation

Today, the Apache Software Foundation announced it has agreed to sell all IP and assets of the foundation to Oracle. The agreement is a $1.5 billion all cash deal. The ASF board agreed to the terms after vigorous discussions last evening.

 "We never considered the possibility of selling the ASF," said Jim Jagielski, Chairman of the ASF, "but Oracle made us a simply fantastic offer. Larry himself flew out last week to meet with us to address our concerns."

As part of the agreement, Oracle obtains even more of the crucial LAMP-stack software products.

"It was Oracle's admission that the Web is more than 'just' Java or databases that finalized the decision for us," said Justin Erenkrantz, Director and President of the ASF.

2009 marked the 10th Anniversary of the ASF.

We will be communicating updates about the status of our projects and our license in the near future.  As a community based organization, we want to ensure the best experience for our existing committers, contributors, and users, under our new arrangement.

Posted at 11:59AM Apr 01, 2010 by Sally in General  |  Comments [82]  | 

Comments:

April Fools!

Posted by Chris Mattmann on April 01, 2010 at 03:17 PM GMT #

April Fools? These days it is safer to ask!

Posted by Ethan Cane on April 01, 2010 at 03:23 PM GMT #

April's fool prank? Come on!

Posted by 127.0.0.1 on April 01, 2010 at 03:24 PM GMT #

It means that all IP is transferred to Oracle. Any libraries/software licensed under the GPL will continue to be available, but newer versions will be licensed under some dual license scheme for commercial users. Or so I hear.

Posted by James Carr on April 01, 2010 at 03:27 PM GMT #

What? Is this an April fool joke?

Posted by Hussain on April 01, 2010 at 03:38 PM GMT #

"Oracle's admission that the Web is more than 'just' Java or databases..." The Web is a series of tubes, everyone knows that.

Posted by Mike on April 01, 2010 at 03:43 PM GMT #

Still one Letter to go for Oracle LAMP Oracle Linux Oracle Apache Oracle MySQL Oracle PHP (Maybe we could change PHP in PL/SQL?)

Posted by 127.0.0.1 on April 01, 2010 at 03:47 PM GMT #

This is great news. I hope this finally harmonizes all of that confusion regarding Java. It seems that the sun is finally rising on the foundation. Congratulations to everyone involved.

Posted by Rich Bowen on April 01, 2010 at 03:48 PM GMT #

Splitting 1.5B among the about 300 ASF members (committers won't qualify, right?) gives 5M per person, so I guess many of those people won't need to work anymore, or at least not for a long time. This might mean a slowdown for those projects that are driven not by passion but by a need to make a living. Not sure if that's good or bad.

Posted by Bertrand Delacretaz on April 01, 2010 at 03:57 PM GMT #

Wait, are people seriously taking this seriously? :P

Posted by Nicolas on April 01, 2010 at 03:59 PM GMT #

April Fools!

Posted by Rob on April 01, 2010 at 04:02 PM GMT #

Nice April Fools Day joke.

Posted by Stephen Souness on April 01, 2010 at 04:02 PM GMT #

You guys do realize its April 01?

Posted by Dan on April 01, 2010 at 04:05 PM GMT #

Great April Fools!

Posted by 127.0.0.1 on April 01, 2010 at 04:37 PM GMT #

Happy April Fools Day!!!

Posted by Mike Miller on April 01, 2010 at 04:42 PM GMT #

It was well worth all the effort. The only point of contention was Larry wanted to rename the license the Apache Full and Open Oracle License (AFOOL), which we didn't like.

Posted by Jim Jagielski on April 01, 2010 at 04:47 PM GMT #

I almost believed it! Then I realized today is April 1st :) Cheers, -Alex

Posted by Alex Ruiz on April 01, 2010 at 04:56 PM GMT #

April Fools' Day!

Posted by Anonymous Coward on April 01, 2010 at 05:03 PM GMT #

April fools. Right?

Posted by Darrell Nelson on April 01, 2010 at 05:08 PM GMT #

april fool?

Posted by Paulo Cassiano on April 01, 2010 at 05:14 PM GMT #

April 1st? O,o

Posted by Jose Coelho on April 01, 2010 at 05:17 PM GMT #

April fools´ day?

Posted by Guilherme Garnier on April 01, 2010 at 05:32 PM GMT #

I bet the apache stock price will be through the roof today!

Posted by 127.0.0.1 on April 01, 2010 at 05:34 PM GMT #

April Fools!

Posted by Rob on April 01, 2010 at 05:51 PM GMT #

LOL

Posted by Eric Searcy on April 01, 2010 at 05:56 PM GMT #

April Fool's Day ???

Posted by Denis on April 01, 2010 at 05:57 PM GMT #

Please tell me this is April's fool joke

Posted by Alaa Mohsen on April 01, 2010 at 06:02 PM GMT #

April folks? It's sound likes bad if true. Really.

Posted by Garcia on April 01, 2010 at 06:03 PM GMT #

1° April?!

Posted by Neto Bordenale on April 01, 2010 at 06:09 PM GMT #

is that true ? We must remember that today is April 1!

Posted by Rodrigo Barbosa Cesar on April 01, 2010 at 06:55 PM GMT #

1º april

Posted by Felipe Campos on April 01, 2010 at 06:57 PM GMT #

Only $1.5 billion? If I known it, I'd bought before...

Posted by Ton - BRazil on April 01, 2010 at 07:10 PM GMT #

April 1st ;P

Posted by 127.0.0.1 on April 01, 2010 at 07:12 PM GMT #

Hello Guys, just to remind you that today is * april 1 * !

Posted by Thiago Esteves on April 01, 2010 at 07:18 PM GMT #

Bom... muito bom..... Se hoje não fosse 1 de Abril.

Posted by Átila Palmeira on April 01, 2010 at 07:20 PM GMT #

April Fool's Day!!!

Posted by Peter on April 01, 2010 at 07:34 PM GMT #

This is incredible!!! Apache Full and Open Oracle License - Dynamic Administration Year (AFOOL DAY)

Posted by Peter on April 01, 2010 at 07:36 PM GMT #

This looks like april fool´s day. Is it really true ?

Posted by George Gastaldi on April 01, 2010 at 07:50 PM GMT #

Well... It's just a "APRIL, 1" joke! I hope... :-)

Posted by Roberto on April 01, 2010 at 07:58 PM GMT #

Interesting how a non profit organization can make $1.5 Billion by selling it's IP? hmmmm

Posted by BradW on April 01, 2010 at 08:04 PM GMT #

April fools joke?

Posted by Ron on April 01, 2010 at 08:08 PM GMT #

*remembers todays date* *chuckles*

Posted by walt on April 01, 2010 at 08:32 PM GMT #

You're all (april) fools...

Posted by 127.0.0.1 on April 01, 2010 at 08:33 PM GMT #

Oh my heart ! It must be 1st APRIL ...

Posted by Jocafi on April 01, 2010 at 09:00 PM GMT #

Apr 01, 2010 ?

Posted by William Antônio on April 01, 2010 at 09:02 PM GMT #

Can you confirm the rumors that the deal was done with ORCL only after talks to sell Apache's IP rights to the web and everything on it broke down between the ASF and SCO? Now the ASF is part of a public company we have a right to know!

Posted by Tim Ellison on April 01, 2010 at 09:05 PM GMT #

ROTFL @ Jim's comment. ASF's was one of the better attempts for the day! Though I found xkcd.com the coolest!

Posted by Shankar on April 01, 2010 at 09:26 PM GMT #

It is an April Fools' joke?

Posted by Dmitro Matsik on April 01, 2010 at 09:41 PM GMT #

1 april

Posted by Eduardo Kislanski on April 01, 2010 at 09:43 PM GMT #

April fool's day?

Posted by kiev on April 01, 2010 at 09:46 PM GMT #

Remember everyone, today is April 1.

Posted by Sean on April 01, 2010 at 09:58 PM GMT #

Looks like Oracle is bought by Tokutek: http://tokutek.com/2010/04/tokutek-acquires-oracle/ They also bought HP and Apple today.

Posted by Sean on April 01, 2010 at 10:02 PM GMT #

I was ROFL ... got a raise of quite a few folks. jas

Posted by Jas Sandhu on April 01, 2010 at 10:10 PM GMT #

Hah, Happy April Fools' Day!;-)

Posted by 127.0.0.1 on April 01, 2010 at 10:42 PM GMT #

This must be a April fools joke, right?

Posted by JungYee on April 01, 2010 at 11:04 PM GMT #

Does the Intellectual Property include the genes of any of the ASF members?

Posted by Chris on April 01, 2010 at 11:39 PM GMT #

Interesting. I think most folks who contributed code to Apache projects did so with the intention of it being free and open for everyone. Now that this has been compromised, it shows that there was no real contractual commitment on Apache's part to uphold this, even if contributors had to sign an agreement. I realize now this means that Apache can profit off of our contributions, with contributors not getting any share. Perhaps this is the end of truly "free" open source software. It's a sad world...though perhaps not for Microsoft who pointed out earlier on that there's no such thing as "free".

Posted by Vinh on April 01, 2010 at 11:50 PM GMT #

Good thing this is the first day of April!

Posted by jw.stephens on April 02, 2010 at 12:26 AM GMT #

OTL, April fools?

Posted by Edward J. on April 02, 2010 at 01:12 AM GMT #

Hmmm....any chance this would be an April Fools Joke? :-)

Posted by 127.0.0.1 on April 02, 2010 at 04:00 AM GMT #

AFOOL = April FOOL ?

Posted by Deny Prasetyo on April 02, 2010 at 07:08 AM GMT #

Is this some sort o' joke?

Posted by Jack Queen on April 02, 2010 at 12:23 PM GMT #

Are you serious?? On April 1? the license rename matches though!! AFOOLS :-))))

Posted by Ravin Perera on April 02, 2010 at 01:16 PM GMT #

I cant belive this is true.

Posted by Thomas on April 02, 2010 at 01:38 PM GMT #

You guys realize this is probably an April fools joke right?

Posted by John on April 02, 2010 at 02:21 PM GMT #

Nice april fool :-)

Posted by Dennis on April 02, 2010 at 04:56 PM GMT #

I am sure the whole world knows about this now. http://slashdot.org/submission/1207558/Oracle-Acquires-Apache-for-15-Billion

Posted by TimHome on April 02, 2010 at 07:40 PM GMT #

Sounds good on the surface, but I am concerned about the new licensing. Will everyone using ASF code for commercial uses or distributing it as part of a product one day find themselves having to fork over Big Bucks in licensing fees? Current code is probably safe from this, but what about new versions produced sometime in the future? Hmm...

Posted by Hmmm... on April 02, 2010 at 11:21 PM GMT #

11:59 A.M. on April first? Nice one Apache Team--almost had me there!

Posted by Runes on April 03, 2010 at 12:27 AM GMT #

happy fools day! ?!

Posted by struberg on April 03, 2010 at 08:48 AM GMT #

I don't know, first ORACLE goes after MYSQL (i think with clever idea -sun purchase MYSQL the ORACLE purchase SUN -, now ASF, i think ORACLE is planning something BIG like kill open software, in the future they can close projects or just declare that every one must purchase a liscense (like with solaris), is this the end of open and software???

Posted by Ricardo on April 03, 2010 at 02:54 PM GMT #

classic!

Posted by ian on April 04, 2010 at 11:28 AM GMT #

hufff.... are oracle preparing to something ?.... *dislike this / kapitalism* .. whereis open source ??? *sigh*

Posted by deanet on April 04, 2010 at 01:31 PM GMT #

You got me there... perhaps because I didn't look at the date and I was past the April 1st awareness....aah reasons abundant... but nevertheless made a good fool of. I even started an RSYNC job to create a mirror for myself :D

Posted by Sameer on April 04, 2010 at 05:42 PM GMT #

was this april fools or what, if not WOW! 1.5bil.

Posted by rick on April 05, 2010 at 02:34 PM GMT #

you had me

Posted by apf on April 06, 2010 at 07:36 AM GMT #

Oracle's next target would be the Jboss community ;-)

Posted by Hari on April 06, 2010 at 09:35 AM GMT #

I'm amazed at the number of people who haven't realised, or even apparently read the other comments to see that this is a simple April fools joke. Nice one! Seriously though, is April fools day a relatively narrow cultural phenomenon which many people in the world are unaware of or something?

Posted by Stephen Hamilton on April 07, 2010 at 09:46 AM GMT #

So Disappointed! Another fool after Sun. :-(

Posted by 127.0.0.1 on April 08, 2010 at 12:45 PM GMT #

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Posted by Silly me on April 18, 2010 at 11:00 PM GMT #

you had me.. have started thinking how would the move be for few minutes.. date is important

Posted by sharad on April 19, 2010 at 02:22 PM GMT #

Yeah i was surprised when i saw the news article ORACLe going in for Apache Software. This is the nature of Open Source. The new generation of Software will the taken up by GPL. I hope is not April fool then... Now april fool is over tell the truth... This is what they normally say "behind every rumor there is a little bit of truth..."

Posted by Gideon Makus on April 22, 2010 at 09:07 AM GMT #

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