Channel Zone Editor Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols thinks he’s finally figured out what Sun really wants to sell on the x86 platform—and it’s not Linux.
What Sun Really Wants to Sell in the x86 Market
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Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
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I can’t help it, apologies in advance…
“Oh, and speaking of Sun, if it actually kept on developing SPARC and Solaris, it could have been in a much better position than it is right now. x86-64 is not going to take them far, since even AMD and IBM are about to ditch it. Sun was doing fine and was a brilliant company before Jonathan Schwartz (the Microshaft sellout) and his retarded ‘AMD’ strategy drove the company into the ground by freaking out the clients by trying to adopt Windows and Solaris-x86 on x86-64.”
> “Oh, and speaking of Sun, if it actually kept on developing SPARC and Solaris, it could have been in a much better position than it is right now. x86-64 is not going to take them far, since even AMD and IBM are about to ditch it. Sun was doing fine and was a brilliant company before Jonathan Schwartz (the Microshaft sellout) and his retarded ‘AMD’ strategy drove the company into the ground by freaking out the clients by trying to adopt Windows and Solaris-x86 on x86-64.”
Dude you’re making an ass out of yourself aping other people’s comments, this is just not cool. But this is not what’s important, the important thing is that there is no parallel between SGI’s downfall and Sun’s present situation as you’re implying. At the core of their ‘Intel’ strategy SGI was deemphasizing of its strongest products (MIPS ans IRIX) in favour of Intel, Windows and Linux — exactly the areas where SGI could have little if any leverage. Sun on other hand doesn’t deemphasize Solaris and UltraSparc and remains strongly commited to both technology. Sun appears to be using x86 not as an escape route, but rather as means of expanding into the markets where Sun’s presence wasn’t historically strong — the low end computing. Intel and AMD just appear to be the right tools for this particular job. Bottom line — Sun is not going the way of SGI.
Sun can either use that money wisely or just keep holding it as they go down. If I were Scott, I’d be throwing a millon to NVidia and a Million to ATI telling them to Support Solaris. I’d throw a couple of million to buy up some of the small Solaris driver companies and get a headstart with graphics/pcmcia/usb/sound/video drivers. Id then start throwning a few million at Adobe, Macromedia, VmWare, Win4Lin, Codeweavers getting them to commit. This effort will take only 100Million dollars – you’re still left with 1.9 Billion!.
Agreed, and they should cut their losses with UltraSPARC and simply work with Fujitsu on SPARC64. Move the SPARC64 to the high end of town and use Opteron for workstations up to 8 way SMP configurations, loaded with Solaris/JDS with some nice, easy to use administration and configuration tools.
Regarding the sad state of third party software, the above is exactly what I suggested over 4 years ago. 4 YEARS AGO! and what have SUN done? jack-diddly-squat. Had I been in charge 4 years ago, SUN would be in the black with more third party software vendors than you could shake a stick at. Sorry, I may not be a MBA wizz kid with an ego that requires its own time zone, but one thing I can assure you, no one in their right mind will purchase a system if there is bugger all software and performs worse than the competition.
>….with an ego that requires its own time zone….
Dude, you’re soo right again!. (hehe…that the funniest line i’ve read in a long while).
Anyway, atleast your’re being constructive compared to a lot of other chaps recommending stupid things such as splitting up the company or try to get acquired by IBM or just simply open source everything and close up shop.
Because they’re in serious financial trouble, that’s why. They have no prospect of even revenue in the here and now, let alone future growth, and their R & D is producing absolutely nothing.
I don’t think many people here seem to realize the terrible financial situation Sun are in. They need to do something, and mucking about with Solaris on x86 and doing deals with a company who wouldn’t mind taking a lot of their revenue isn’t going to solve that. Because they’re in serious financial trouble, that’s why. They have no prospect of even revenue in the here and now, let alone future growth, and their R & D is producing absolutely nothing.
What the hell are you of ranting about? Sun has 7.5 billion in cash, they had a revenue of 2.65 billion last quarter, their server volumes are growing year over year.
I don’t think many people here seem to realize the terrible financial situation Sun are in. They need to do something, and mucking about with Solaris on x86 and doing deals with a company who wouldn’t mind taking a lot of their revenue isn’t going to solve that.
No you are the one not comprehending Sun’s finacial state. They are restructuring and reducing expenses. They are nowhere near the state SGI was.
I really think that Sun hardware kicks ass, and that Solaris is a great operating system. That being said, Sun will still continue to lose market share.
Remember folks, Big Unix never has and never will come up with an answer to The Microsoft Play – Cheap hardware and software that sucks in many ways, but is Good Enough for most of your needs, while for the most part, you remove the spectre of Vendor Lock In.
Linux and FOSS are the Ne Plus Ultra of the Microsoft Play – Cheap Hardware and software, that doesn’t suck Too Bad, while you end up removing almost all Vendor Lock In.
So here you have it. Sun hasn’t been able to compete in the Big Iron races in quite a while. Perhaps its new processor direction will help in that regard. It’s moves in the Low End, are unfortunately, irrelevant. Linux and Microsoft own the low end. It’s like starting a land war in Russia, and you don’t even have Napoleon’s Grand Armee at your disposal.
Sun probably won’t disappear, but even if Solaris for x86 kicks total ass, it will only hope to acquire a niche, along the lines of Apple’s niche in desktop computing.
The current state of the IT industry completely favors the monoculture at the low end of the market. I am open to dissenting opinions.