It's probably a little early to be looking for implications of Oracle buying Sun (no, it's official, here's the press release). They've only just confirmed it's happening, and as one of the journalists who covered Novell buying Lotus many years ago I can confirm things aren't done until they're done, frankly.

A few things spring to mind, though. First there will be much talk of useful synergies between the two. Second, there will be a strong company coming out of this.

That aside, however, there will be more. First it's almost certainly going to be seen as a blow to high-end enterprise systems that whichever way you cut it, there will be one less major player in this arena. Second, there's the chance that people will perceive this as further evidence that the high-end market is already saturated with players and needs no more.

Third, it's happening when there's a worldwide slump and recession. Synergies aside, nobody's going to tell me this would have happened in a normal economy. Sorry, scratch that - loads of people will tell me precisely that. I just won't believe them.