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HP vs Oracle Court Case: Itanium Is Still Dead
Sure, HP and Oracle are locked in the Itanium legal feud. But it's time for the media to state the obvious -- yet again: Itanium was dead (or at least doomed) long before Oracle killed development for the 64-bit HP-Intel chip. So why did Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) and HP (NYSE: HPQ) wind up in court over a dead, er... struggling, microprocessor?
The VAR Guy
June 1, 2012
2 Min Read
boxing-gloves
Sure, HP and Oracle are locked in the Itanium legal feud. But it’s time for the media to state the obvious — yet again: Itanium was dead (or at least doomed) long before Oracle killed development for the 64-bit HP-Intel chip. So why did Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) and HP (NYSE: HPQ) wind up in court over a dead, er… struggling, microprocessor? The answer involves Mark Hurd.As you’ll recall…
Oracle hired Hurd as president after Hewlett-Packard’s board fired Hurd as CEO.
When Oracle hired Hurd, HP sued to block the move.
As part of the ensuing settlement, Oracle agreed to continue supporting HP’s technology.
When Oracle pulled the plug on Itanium, HP claimed the move violated the earlier settlement involving Hurd.
Got all that? Still confused? Here’s how The Wall Street Journal explains it:
“Last June, H-P sued Oracle, alleging Oracle was contractually obligated to develop software for the H-P systems and cited the language in the Hurd settlement. Oracle said the settlement is just a corporate hug, not a full-fledged contract.”
The HP vs. Oracle trial is expected to start the week of June 4. The VAR Guy can’t predict the “legal” outcome. But our resident blogger can state a “logical” outcome based on these realities:
Itanium never lived up to its early hype.
Microsoft and Red Hat killed Itanium support long before Oracle pulled out of the Itanium market.
Why should Oracle be forced to develop software for a hardware architecture when most software rivals have walked away from that hardware architecture?
Still, the law can sometimes trump logic. The VAR Guy will be watching to see if justice favors HP… or Oracle.
Regardless of the trial outcome, Itanium remains a dying platform in terms of sales and market opportunity. And that was a reality long before Oracle ended development on Itanium…
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