I was thinking about Sci-Tech’s story about VMware and Google. I’ve been watching and wondering how giants VMware and Google will dance to the music of Java (now an Oracle asset). VMware’s Spring and Groovy seems like a natural fit with Google’s AppEngine. However, neither own the Java platform yet both are banking big on it becoming the major development language. It puts them into the interesting position of having the evangelize Java together.

If they can marshall their shared interests then this combination could be a potent counter point to Microsoft’s .NET. They could provide the corporate support and lift that Sun did not. Or they could just create more confusion and dilution for an already fragmented platform.

6/29 update: after the JBoss World show, I need to add RedHat to the list of java supporters. Starting to take on an AntiMS feeling.

Putting on my Dell hat, accelerating these platforms helps our customers and our industry.