Google chairman and CEO Eric Schmidt will sit down with Sun Microsystems CEO Scott McNealy on Tuesday morning to outline a collaborative effort between the two companies. It’s not clear what the partnership will entail, but Sun has already begun to hype the event. More about this here.
I think Sun wants to be apple without being cool.
Hehe..snicker.
Let’s just hope that McNealy doesn’t try to sell Java as a client for future google projects. It’s dead Jim.
Hey, this could be big!.
…based on Solaris anyone? Google makes it as userfriendly and as awesome as all their products are right now…google talk, google search, etc etc…based on Solaris which is a badass OS anyway.
Do not forget that there are only relatively few drivers for (Open)Solaris. This is crucial for a satisfying desktop experience.
You must be joking – tons of opensolaris drivers out there now. Old tapes… and way, way more stable a driver base than the equivalent Linux collection.
Do not forget that there are only relatively few drivers for (Open)Solaris. This is crucial for a satisfying desktop experience.
Solaris (Open Solaris or not) is an excellent server OS. It’s not designed for interactive desktop use, though. (Ex: the conservative emphasis on not caching disk writes so as to eliminate any necessity for data recovery that might not suceed, for example.)
I’m not saying Solaris will not be proposed for the desktop, though it is not a great choice for that. One of the BSDs or a Linux distro would be a better choice as all of the same apps will work and these systems are more tuned by default to work as both servers and client systems.
Note: Interactive use = mousing around under X or as a single local user. Solaris is fine as a remote server resource and great under heavy load from multiple client systems for things such as web apps, file services, and mail, as well as other transaction services.
Funny that you don’t see the blatently obvious thing that SUN is trying to push; don’t you remember the @Home programme where by SUN employees are given a SunRay appliance, connect it up to a cable modem or ADSL connection, and remotely access resources on SUN computers?
Whose to say that SUN and Google won’t team up on something similar; Google has already bought up large amounts of backbone infrastructure; it would make perfect sense having a large distributed network and selling desktop access.
End users would get all they need for set fee; they wouldn’t have to worry about all the hassles with maintaining their own computer, installing software etc. and SUN would get a great partner with a well known name – heck, it might end up being called a Google Computer.
As for the grid computing/utilitiy computing, there is another avenue that would marry up, again, the large infrascture buy ups and the extra capacity to team with SUN to provide on demand computing for corporate clients.
There are a number of difference avenues out there, it isn’t just a ‘desktop search plus Solaris for the desktop’ – first and foremost SUN want to see their technology put to use to demonstrate to those beyond their core customer base, that SUN is ontrack, and focusing on the bigger picture besides a few niche markets.
I fail to see what’s awsome about Google Talk. Gaim has a lot more functionality without loosing its simpllicity.
Do you know what Google Talk even is? take a page from the clue book; it is a service offered by Google that relies on the open Jabber protocol – I don’t know about you, but it feels great knowing I can use what ever client I wish, without experience problems because the master of the messenging service has a bee in their bonnet over third party messenger software.
All google need to do is get their Google Mail available for more people, and hopefully with a good marketing push, we’ll see people ask, “got a Googletalk contact?!”
Just curious on what promted this meeting of giants. FTA:
“Dr. Schmidt was at Sun from 1983 to 1997 and defined Sun’s Internet strategy (according to his bio on Google’s corporate Web site),”
Its obvious that their are some ties between the companies; but why now and about what? Just trying to start a thread on speculation.
Enjoy….
On the extreme side, a move to Solaris or even OpenSolaris? A move to Sun’s new X Opteron servers? However, it is probably more likely to be something Java related since Schmidt was apparently involved heavily with Java during his time at Sun.
In any case, I sure hope it is something significant and not just some lame marketing BS that never results in anything tangible or otherwise useful.
McNealy dislike Microsoft so he is getting behind Google based on the myth that google can take on Microsoft with their over priced stock and minimalist ideas.
it seems that there is a piece of software stack that google is trying to create and Sun already owns (to some extend).
My prediction it would be the office.
igor
#1 This could be something to do with the Liberty Alliance, which I believe was started at Sun.
#2 Google is increasingly prolific in desktop applications and web-based applications that have functionality previously reserved for client-side apps. Sun is releasing the next version of StarOffice/OpenOffice soon. Perhaps there will be some collaboration between the two.
#3 Could Google be moving to Solaris? I doubt it, but I may as well bring it up. If I’m not mistaken, Google originally ran on Sun hardware and software.
#1 This could be something to do with the Liberty Alliance, which I believe was started at Sun.
I hadn’t thought of that, but it makes sense in light of the recent Google book scanning fiasco ( http://business.bostonherald.com/technologyNews/view.bg?articleid=1… ) Getting into DRM would be a logical step.
Come to think of it, Sun has been hyping up their DRM scheme lately with its open source “Project DReaM” (DRM/everywhere available.)
As a sidenote I hope someone bolted down the chairs in Redmond 🙂
Right after I posted, I stumbled on a DReaM article. I think you are probably right about this and Google books.
If this were true and Apple jumped on the wagon…
Sun … on the rocks financially! Google … chequebook in hand?
I jest … I think!
What Google should do is work together with the devs behind Ubuntu, and Sun’s Project Looking Glass to release:
UBUNTU LOOKING GLASS
It could have some weird name too like KDE’s Kubuntu does, but perhaps more creative than LGUbuntu
I wish someone would forward this idea to Google.
I, for one, would love to be able to quickly use a stable version of Project Looking Glass with Ubuntu
As Paris Hilton says I think “that’s hot”
Why would Google be even remotley interested in this?
They wouldn’t be. Google Ubuntu Looking Glass? This makes absolutely no sense…
My guess is that it’s something less obvious. Google always tries to come up with new stuff…
Perhaps they need some Sun patents to do something new and cool…
My instincts tells me that the partnership has something to do with the open source Google OS that is to be released soon. There are rumors that it’ll be based on Linux(perhaps Solaris?) so that’s quite exciting. We shall see.
Integration of Google services into StarOffice/OpenOffice…
I do prefer Google in it’s solo career… but let’s see what happens…
As long we don’t see java in google products (like StarOffice’s unnecessary java-made installer), I don’t see much problem… I hope they’ll work together in for OpenDocument spreading, web services and such things…
I don’t know too much about Sun’s DRM for make my mind about it… Anyone has more information? Is it a spec that could be implemented in C/C++/C#/Python/etc or is it Java only? Anyone *knows* more about it and would like to share?
> As long as we don’t see java
There’s nothing wrong with Java and infact I trust Java to be a much better solution than the Mono being copied (or reverse engineered) from Microsoft. You really must grow your own opionions rather than become a band waggoner. It’s so fashionable to say Java is evil.
Java isn’t evil, it just sucks.
Sun is evil.
That’s why Java sucks.
Java has the same problems as C#. It is proprietary and comes from an evil corporation whose only purpose for existence is to make money.
Why try to make technology and get everyone to use it if all you’re interested in is the money? Hey, I want money, too. But I’d rather my customers get full access to the technology I would have them buy from me than expect them to license and lease and borrow my Intellectual Property, so they can pay me again and again and again.
Just look at UNIX and X-Windows. Both have a long history of proprietary vendors and open collaboration/standards, etc. And what happened to them? Open alternatives came along and gave us full access to the same tech and now the old vendors are scrambling to catch up.
How did that happen? Will it happen again? Will it happen to you? I don’t care, not my problem. I learned my history lesson so I won’t be doomed to repeat it.
“It is proprietary and comes from an evil corporation whose only purpose for existence is to make money.”
Since when is “evil” synonymous with “capitalistic”? No corporation exists for any other reason than to make money, period. Your logic baffles me…
Java has the same problems as C#. It is proprietary and comes from an evil corporation whose only purpose for existence is to make money.
I hope you aren’t running you boxen on AMD or Intel products… and God forbid Apple. I’m about as far-out in left field as they get, but as far as Sun goes I find them pretty harmless and they come out with a lot of interesting stuff.
In 10 years I’ll definitely buy a 1 or 2 U Niagara for dirt cheap to play with.
Business is not evil; corporations do exist to make a profit. Now how a business goes about making a profit and if they gouge their customers is a different story. But having a competitive market is supposed to be an equalizer to said gouging. And yes, there are some loop holes in regards to market forces:
1) price fixing
2) no/not enough competition
3) Patents. Yes, patents do create an impact on competition.
4) And the list goes on……
Who knows, your belief that corporations and capitalism are evil are un-founded.
Side note: I do support BSD and GPL licenses. Yes imagine that; a capitalist supporting FOSS. Just my opinion.
At this moment the java is the only useable software development tool for linux. Yes, there are many nice toys, like PHP, Perl, Python, etc, but the enterprises never will use this things. Java is good, but IMHO .NET will cut out java from the newest projects in the near future, because the progress of .NET is very fast.
The fact that Sun stands behind their innovation – and indemnifies their customers with both StarOffice and Java, vs. Mono – matters to me a ton. I don’t want someone else’s IP, I want vendors to stand behind what they deliver, not simply leech off of others.
I would guess Sun got Google to start using some of their Niagra chips and want to show us how their TCO is lower than clusters of cheap PCs.
Yeah, I’d bet on Niagara. If Google isn’t in Niagara’s target market, I don’t know what would be! If people are right that Niagara will share the X4100 enclosure, then imagine a CPU with 4 memory controllers, gigs of RAM, 32 threads, hooked up to those 4 GigE ports on the back.
Agreed; Good that you bought it up; Niagara would be right up Google’s alley; more throughput than you can shake a stick at, and yet, runs as cool as a cucumber; what more can a heavily dependent on IT company ask for?
Add the fact that Solaris 10 has come along way, and speed wise, is comparable with Linux on similarly configured hardware – this maybe just the kind of promotion that SUN needs to demonstrate that Solaris 10 is ready for large scale deployment, along with their Niagara chips.
Of course, would the TCO be lower because of Niagra, or because Schmidt is buddy-buddy with Sun?
If a 3rd party posts lower TCOs with Windows, the anti-MSers scream rigged, but if anyone else does it, it’s perfectly ok? Double standards again.
Google has about ~100k PC servers. That´s a lot of electricity! A low powered CPU would be a great gain.
The big move would be a web-enabled Office suite (based on Star Office), complete with secure online storage. G’nite, Microsoft.
people already complain that openoffice takes a long time to start. Imagine if it was coded in javascript and had to be downloaded for each use.
Come on, Ajax desktop applications are insane. Nobody wants to go back to the thin client model, especially when you will actually require more resources on the client side.
– Jesse McNelis
GPL is the ONLY LICENSE we should be supporting, everything else is capitalistic evil crap. Only run Linux, only non-branded distros, only use code built by teenagers in basements of beautiful homes in posh suburbs where parents are investment bankers supporting their little snots and their juvenile economic theories.
What if Sun and Google are collaborating on a whole new approach to the desktop. Sun’s Thin-ray client running an embedded OS, accessing applications distributed over Google’s vast network. You could plug your Sun Thin-ray directly into a network connection, and load up a desktop or something running on Google’s network. You could even spill coffee on your Thin-Ray and it wouldn’t matter.
Just a thought. Probably way off, but conspiracy theories are fun 😛
people already complain that openoffice takes a long time to start. Imagine if it was coded in javascript and had to be downloaded for each use.<BR>
Or You could just do the content delivery via a googlized system, maybe a P2P system, or something akin to STEAM from valve. Install, run. Update periodically. Run.
Always up to date, but linked to online storage for backups. Would be pretty cool.
Oh, and Open Office 2.x beta loads way way faster than 1.x series, and that’s NOT with the preloader option. (Which of course MS builds into it’s operating system, so as to make other tools look/feel slower — and I wouldn’t put it past them to intentionally make other apps that compete slower too. But we’ll never see the code, will we?)
Maybe Google could help them improve java for desktop. I for one would love to see an increase in Swing usage. and don’t tell me about swt
Why else would google snatch up primary developers of Microsoft Office for its own use.
This could be bad ass.
I thought Sun were already in bed with Microsoft? or at least Microsoft are propping them up?
thinkfree.com did it already. if you want to acces your office suite online, it seems that staroffice and google is tha answer. but you can try thinkfree also fro free.(beta version)
this is not really big news but it shows the new direction that google and other companies will take. We’d be able to run more apps on line without installing them on our computers. that is nice.
i think this is the way to go. maybe if you are into video editing(get a mac) or games(windows), you would not need this but for everything else, go online and do whatever you want.
i think that eventually in a near future, GooOS would reign. No Windows OS neccesary to run your apps.
I want GooOS to boot from a USB memory card and to look very simple. Everything you want…..online…..free.
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