Oracle may own the Java trademark, but VMware is touting its own Spring framework as the best programming model for enterprise Java developers.

The enterprise variant of Java faced off against the Spring Framework this week in a debate over which one developers should use for Java application development.

The VMforce cloud platform in development by VMware and Salesforce.com will be most useful for customers with existing Salesforce deployments, but can technically be used to build any Java application, a VMware official says.

VMware's SpringSource is acquiring database-caching software company GemStone Systems, the company announced Thursday. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

VMware has struck a deal to acquire enterprise Java vendor SpringSource for $US362 million.

The talk of CloudWorld this week was VMware's acquisition of SpringSource. The top-of-mind chatter focused on the price: US$400 million plus, a very large sum for a company doing perhaps US$25 million in revenues. Certainly there was a good bit of envy in this type of conversation. And, of course, the fact that SpringSource is an open source company further makes the number even more eye-watering.