OSNews

Sun's business model is essentially the same as IBM's. They want to sell you hardware and services (eg support). They would have preferred to sell you Solaris, but the reality is that Sun's customers are also HP and IBM's customers, and many of them (if not most) are replacing (or have replaced) expensive proprietary Unixes with Linux. It's always amazed me how, despite having brilliant technologists like James Gosling, Sun never quite figured out how to monetize Java. They had the basic idea right (use Java to sell lots of servers) but, perhaps, their timing was all wrong; or, maybe, they planted their hopes on the wrong businesses (dotcoms). Either way, they got a little too distracted with taking on Microsoft head-to-head with StarOffice and the whole Network Computer (NC) concept. If Sun wants to continue to exist as a company, they need to do what IBM does: create and sell excellent hardware that runs on top of Linux, sell services such as support and consulting, etc). My worry for Sun is that they will become another Cray; that is, they'll pigeonhole themselves into a shrinking high-end market, and slowly starve and die. It's still a viable company. Note to Jonathan Schwartz: Lose the freaking pony-tail. It looks ridiculous.