Oracle is up, but is the technology economy down?
Oracle knocked another quarter out of the park, with fourth-quarter profit up 27 percent and revenue climbing 24 percent to $7.2 billion. Life is good, yes?
Well, maybe. Oracle President and CFO Safra Catz indicated that she is expecting a tough summer quarter, with tightened technology spending on the horizon. This, coupled with RIM's quarter, which was strong but below analyst expectations, suggests that we may be in for a long, hot summer.
Yes, open-source companies and software should fare well in a down economy as buyers search for bargains. But in such an economy, buyers are also more likely to look to stay with existing vendors and shave costs there, rather than introducing new vendors. It should prove to be an excellent time to separate the wheat from the chaff.
Matt Asay brings a decade of in-the-trenches open-source business and legal experience to The Open Road, with an emphasis on emerging open-source business strategies and opportunities. Matt is vice president of business development at Alfresco, a company that develops open-source software for content management. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure. You can follow Matt on Twitter @mjasay. 
