Sun Microsystems is bleeding money. In late November, thousands of employees were told not to come back to work after the holiday season. Some of those workers are directly involved with MySQL and other open source initiatives at Sun.
InternetNews.com reported that those layoffs could make it difficult for Oracle to keep its promises to the European Commission regarding the future of MySQL.
“They have made a five-year promise to the EU and have RIF’d folks that are directly involved with the efforts,” a source familiar with the reductions told InternetNews.com. The slang “RIF’d” stands for “reduction in force.”
The unnamed source, according to InternetNews.com, estimated that up to 3,000 people are involved in various aspects of open source efforts at Sun. It’s unknown how many of those have been given pink slips.
