If this were the case, then - according to another source familiar with the workings of the technology tradeshow industry - it may be that Sun is perhaps using the biggest event of its annual calendar as a strategic tool to help close the historical breach between itself and IBM, exhibited in such ways as Sun's hesitations about joining Eclipse, the IBM-inspired organization that just recently became a Foundation legally and nominally independent of Big Blue.

Perhaps Sun has decided to mend fences, just as it did recently with Microsoft, and is letting the management of JavaOne go from MediaLive to the folks who put together IBM's considerable array of tech conferences for them? That would certainly be one very effective behind-the-scenes way for $14 billion market cap Sun to extend an olive branch to $152 billion market cap IBM, its much bigger brother.

LinuxWorld.com has invited Sun, IBM, and MediaLive for confirmation or rebuttal, but as of this evening EST none of the three companies had yet offered to comment on the record.

To lose one trade show in a week is bad enough, but what are the chances of losing two in the same week? If the rumor is true, the official announcement should come as early as next Monday, the first day of JavaOne.