In April 2009, Larry Ellison said, as reported in The New York Times and The Guardian, that Java—then a freeware programming language—was “the single most important software asset we have ever acquired.” Despite that bold praise, Oracle made no immediate effort to monetize Java, and that omission alone should raise eyebrows. Oracle had completed hundreds of acquisitions over decades, and each followed a familiar pattern: a clear monetization strategy, whether immediate or long-term.