Sun Microsystems Inc.: The facts

Sun Microsystems was a multinational seller of computer hardware and software as well as an information technology service provider before being acquired by Oracle. Sun was also a proponent for open systems, particularly UNIX, and a top open source software contributor.

Brief history

The company, Sun Microsystems, Inc. was formed in February 24, 1982 with its headquarters in Santa Clara, California. After 27 years in the computer industry, it was acquired by Oracle Corporation in April 20, 2009 for $ 7.4 billion. A month following the acquisition, Sun merged with Oracle, USA, Inc. to form the corporation Oracle America, Inc. Leader maker of UNIX servers Before the acquisition, Sun Microsystems was a leading maker of UNIX servers which were used to power up websites and computer networks. The company also manufactured various computer hardware including storage systems (both disks and tapes) and workstations. Sun computer products made use of Sun-manufactured SPARC microprocessors and the Solaris operating system.

Popular creations and acquisitions

Java Platform The Java Platform is a collection of computer software programs and specifications written specifically in the Java programming language. The Java language is a major computer language used to write most of today’s applications for computers, mobile phones, Web browsers, and other related electronic devices. Java application programs require the installation of the Java Platform before they can be used. The platform can be downloaded from the Oracle website (Oracle.com). Solaris Solaris is an operating system for Unix designed to be used for Computer Aided Design (CAD), data centres, databases, and servers. After the acquisition, Oracle discontinued its distribution. Network File System (NFS) NFS is a computer protocol developed in 1984 to allow file sharing between computer users over a network. This system allows multiple users to store files in one machine for future access or retrieval using the server-client specification. Acquisitions Sun also acquired different open source software programs including MySQL and OpenOffice. MySQL is a database management program used particularly for databases in Web application. OpenOffice is a collection of applications similar to Microsoft Office, providing software for word processing, databases, spreadsheets, graphics and presentations.

The company logo

The logo for Sun Microsystems was designed by Vaughan Pratt, a professor in Stanford. It features four interleaved replicas of the word “sun”. The original colour of the logo was orange, but was somehow changed to purple after the logo design was made to stand on one corner.