In a memo to employees announcing the Oracle deal, Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz makes every effort to emphasize the high value Oracle is placing on Sun's people. And, perhaps releasing his inner publicist, Schwartz also says Sun has "fueled entire industries with our people," driven the discovery of new drugs, and "transformed social media."The memo, a copy of which was obtained by Java Developer's Journal writer Jeremy Geelan, includes Schwartz's straightforward assessment of why Oracle wants to buy Sun:

"Oracle's interest in Sun is very clear - they aspire to help customers simplify the development, deployment and operation of high-value business systems, from applications all the way to datacenters. By acquiring Sun, Oracle will be well positioned to help customers solve the most complex technology problems related to running a business.

"….A combined Oracle/Sun will be capable of cultivating one of the world's most vibrant and far reaching developer communities, accelerating the convergence of storage, networking and computing, and delivering one of the world's most powerful and complete portfolios of business and technical software."

If you put yourself in Schwartz's shoes, writing such a memo would present a pretty tough challenge. How much do you say about the company's proud 27-year history and tradition without dodging the fact that staying independent wasn't really an option? How do you strike the right tone in pumping people up about what the future under Oracle will hold, while everyone knows that thousands of Sun employees will lose their jobs?

In spite of those challenges (and the fanciful but understandable flourishes noted above), Schwartz does a great job with this memo. In times of such intense upheaval in the IT industry, it's worth taking a look at the memo via the link above to get a inside perspective on the very personal impact that these giant and generally far-away deals have on the people involved.