SpringSource Course on Infrastructure Pays Out

This is unexpected but logical. SpringSource has been acquired by VMware.

As Rod Johnson mentions in his blog post there are no product overlaps between two companies, which makes the acquisition a conglomeration type of a deal.

On the other hand, if we looked closely at the developments within SpringSource during the past year or so, we would see an accelerating deviation away from the core Java framework business and towards the deployment infrastructure business.

There is a lot of synergy between the companies indeed. In the enterprise, Java is increasingly deployed on virtual infrastructure powered by VMware. An integrated solution seems like a very solid business opportunity and will likely have a significant buy-in in the Java-heavy enterprise.

What's bothering about SpringSource is the stagnating rate of innovation in their core business of Java frameworks. Most of the development on the Java front seems to be shaped around SpringSource's commercial offerings. Valuable projects of general interest like Groovy/Grails Eclipse integration don't seem to get enough resources allocated to drive them to a release fast.

Which leaves us with Google as the innovation leader in the Java space. Not to diminish the role of the search titan, a healthy ecosystem needs many living things to thrive. Another entity will eventually step up and challenge. Who that will be?