So Oracle is going to support Red Hat, not Ubuntu as the gossip had been.  It doesn’t seem like they’re going to offer a packaged solution, at least not yet, one that includes the operating system with the database, so you still have to get the distribution from Red Hat (without the support) and install it as usual.  Except now patches and support come from Oracle.  Matt Asay points to a good analysis by Dave Dargo, formerly of Oracle, now at Ingres.

Dargo writes, “My contention has been that this is more of an emotional reaction to the market capitalization of Red Hat than a sound business decision that delivers any added value to the industry or to the end customers.”  And later he adds, “If Oracle is tremendously successful in taking Red Hat’s business then, ultimately, Red Hat won’t be around. Oracle will then either need to acquire Red Hat or staff up to include the same resources that Red Hat has in building, distributing and supporting their product. Is this their plan, to get Red Hat’s valuation low enough to acquire them?”

Essentially Dargo is arguing that Oracle is solving the wrong problem and won’t do a good job of it either.  If you’re paying $200,000/yr. for your Oracle license, saving five hundred bucks on the support for the operating system isn’t going to matter to you.  And Oracle doesn’t do a good job of support now, and Red Hat does.