IBM to acquire Sun? TomTom countersues Microsoft. Sun unveils Open Cloud Platform. Oracle’s contributions to the Linux kernel. SpringSource updates Tool Suite. And more.

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IBM to acquire Sun?
No prizes for guessing the big story this week as the Wall Street Journal reported that IBM was in talks to buy Sun for $6.5bn, according to “people familiar with the matter”. Raising the game, the New York Times reported that the purchase price was nearer $7bn citing “a person with knowledge of the negotiations”.

The media exploded with speculation about what it all meant but was unable to agree on whether the deal was about software and services or not.

At The 451 Group we are largely withholding judgment until the terms of any deal are confirmed, but at the Inorganic Growth M&A blog Brenon Daly provided an overview of the likely implications.

Other recommended reading on the subject comes from Joe Brockmeier, who pondered what might happen to Linux if IBM does buy Sun, Matt Asay on the potential of a combined entity to monetize open source, and Larry Dignan on why the deal makes sense.

Also recommended is Rich Sands’ speculation about what IBM would do with Java, which involves an explanation of IBM and Sun’s different open source strategies and Peter Yared’s explanation of why the deal would be good for everyone.

TomTom countersues Microsoft
But not over its FAT patents. TomTom launched its counterstrike, claiming that Microsoft’s Streets and Trips products infringe on four patents it owns related to vehicle navigation software. While many open source advocates celebrated, Matt Asay quickly pointed out that TomTom’s patent claims against Microsoft do not involve the FAT patents claims as asserted against TomTom’s use of Linux.

The best of the rest
# Sun Microsystems unveiled Open Cloud Platform using Java, MySQL, OpenSolaris and Open Storage.

# Oracle’s claim to be a friend to open source was corroborated by the news that its developers Chris Mason, Randy Dunlap top the list of contributors for Linux kernel 2.6.29.

# SpringSource released SpringSource Tool Suite (STS) 2.0.

# Stormy Peters interviewed Kim Weins about the implications of companies fostering or controlling communities.

# Platform Computing launched a new Linux cluster management solution developed with HP.

# Ingres announced its forthcoming webinar on The New Economics of IT, which will feature perspectives on the impact of economic conditions on open source adoption from The 451 Group.

# zAgile released Wikidsmart, which brings semantic wiki features for Atlassian’s Confluence enterprise wiki.