My Sadness as Sun Finally Sets
|
News Commentary. Two Silicon Valley companies founded the same year sadly come to their ends during the same month—SGI and Sun Microsystems. |
Oracle's Sun acquisition ends an era of high-performance RISC computing starting in the early 1980s. But before looking to the past, there is the present—and this Microsoft Watch. What does Oracle-Sun mean to Microsoft?
Oracle is a great place for Sun to land—that is, for Microsoft. I explain why in two analyses published yesterday and today at eWEEK. The first, "Oracle Permanently Eclipses Sun," looks at the demise of one of Silicon Valley's most successful startups (granted, 27 years ago). The second, "What Does Oracle's Sun Acquisition Mean to Microsoft?", explains explicitly why appearances of increased competition are not accurate.
In the short term, at least, the acquisition is actually good for Microsoft. Oracle has done Microsoft a huge favor by effectively eliminating one of the most fervent commercial software supporters of open source. By early appearances, Oracle doesn't have any real intention of pursuing Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz's open-source mandate. What will Oracle do about OpenOffice.org or MySQL, which Sun only acquired in January 2008? Will Oracle CEO Larry Ellison gleefully pull the plug on LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP/Python/Perl)? MySQL is a nasty little competitor Oracle has no reason to keep. The open-source database is as much a nuisance to Oracle as it is to Microsoft. For Microsoft, Oracle's Sun acquisition is potentially a huge victory over open source.
In the longer term, appearances of competition are deceiving. Conceptually, Oracle would seem like a fiercer Microsoft competitor, having gained Windows competitor Solaris, Office competitor StarOffice and development language competitor Java. But as I explain in the second eWEEK story, Oracle is little more dangerous to Microsoft with Sun than without it, although there are areas of potential expansion that should concern Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and his top executives. Please read the analysis for my reasoning and predictions.
For the remainder of this post, I want to express my personal sadness in seeing Sun go away, and its being acquired by Oracle. I've no love for Larry Ellison or Oracle. But first Sun. Chairman Scott McNealy ran an efficient enterprise-class company during the late 1980s and through most of the 1990s. I credit much of Sun's success also to a single lieutenant, Ed Zander, who joined the company in 1987 and worked his way up to chief operating officer; Ed left Sun in 2002.
During its early years, Sun competed with another Silicon Valley upstart, Silicon Graphics (later renamed SGI). Both companies produced high-performance graphics Unix workstations, although Sun more successfully branched out into high-end servers. Stanford graduates founded both companies and in the same year—1982. SGI and Sun fiercely competed over the next decade.
By the mid 1990s, Sun and Silicon Graphics had taken different ascendant and descendant paths. Sun rose high above the horizon, while SGI approached its sunset. I covered both companies closely during the mid-to-late 1990s, and so recount firsthand. Operationally, Sun ran a much better—and purposely streamlined—channel program and scored many big customer wins with its Starfire servers. Sun also excelled at software development, particularly Solaris and later Java. Solaris scaled on those 64-processor Starfire servers, which could meet the most demanding enterprise computational needs.
SGI's decline was longer, steeper and more punishing than Sun's. Yet even in their ends, their fates were entwined. The companies, founded about the same time, will end so. Rackable Systems announced its purchase of SGI's assets, for a mere $25 million, on April 1. The lowly amount shows how much into night SGI had already descended. By comparison, Oracle will pay $7.4 billion for Sun.
Sun's decline wasn't inevitable. The company made several strategic mistakes, only one of which I'll recount, simply because it's by far the biggest. Sun sales soared during the late 1990s, during the dot-com boom. Sun sold Web servers hand over fist. It was easy money, a drug, and Sun executives swam in it. But the emphasis on low-end servers cost Sun dearly; higher-end server development and, much more importantly, software development waned. When the dot-com boom went bust, Sun had no fallback position for generating big sales. Sun had let Solaris languish, all while Microsoft scaled Windows Server for the enterprise. And Linux, which helped undermine SGI, also posed problems for Sun.
Jonathan Schwartz's 2004 ascension to the president and COO positions promised to clear away the clouds from Sun. About two years later, Jonathan replaced Scott McNealy as CEO. Under Jonathan's tenure, Sun took several key software projects open source, including Solaris. During my last year as an analyst (2006), before returning to journalism, my survey of U.S. enterprises showed a steep increase in Solaris installations—presumably because of open-source availability.
Now the Sun sets. A great engineering company, one dedicated to enterprise hardware and software, is no more. Personally, I would rather have seen Sun go to another great engineering company. But the IBM talks collapsed, and now Oracle will permanently eclipse Sun.
Larry Ellison won't leave much recognizable behind. I believe that massive layoffs are inevitable. It will be interesting to see whether Sun branding will survive; Larry's ego suggests not. HP rightly chose to keep the brand when acquiring Compaq. Oracle will become a hardware vendor, but will it ever be the kind of engineering company that Sun was? I surely don't think so.
Scott McNealy had sass. Jonathan Schwartz has class. Larry Ellison is king of crass. I say this not to belittle but to comment on corporate culture coming from the top. Oracle is a very successful software company, but its aggressive tactics are legendary. Culturally, Oracle and Sun will mix like oil and water. Larry will make many changes, because that's how he breaks acquisitions to fit the Oracle mold and because it will be necessary for successful integration. But Oracle will never be as good as Sun, never shine with as much warmth.
The acquisition announcement made April 19 a good day for Microsoft and Oracle. As for Sun, I pray her final setting fills the sky with red, yellow, orange and purple hues.
[Please send your tips or rumors to watchtips at gmail.com.]
Comments (35)
Clump and Evan say:
" bc nobody targets them, due to low market share "
"Yup. It's call the "Security by Obscurity" model and is the mainstay of OSX and Linux security."
----------------------------------------------------
So at last two Window$ fanboi's agree that OS X and Linux are not targeted by Malware. Which means that Mac OS X and Linux are much safer too on the internet. Glad we can finally agree to that. As far as "why," does it really matter? The fact that it is safer, is reason enough to use it.
"Security by Obscurity," may have something behind it. It would be safer to use OS/2 as there were only about 200 malware programs written for it, most floppy based. But I think you guys continue to miss the point. Most Linux distro's are setup to run as a limited user. As such a limited user cannot install software, with being asked for the administrator password. Malware is just basically software programs, and would need the same password to install. Windows users, at least ever home user I have ever seen, run as administrator, even Vista comes setup by default as an administrator account. UAC is not the same thing as a limited user account. Not that UAC is not a small step in the right direction, its just not good enough.
The reason windows is so easy to infect, is when running as administrator, software can install. And websites have the same "privileges" as the guy sitting behind the keyboard, in this case. Getting those "privileges" in Linux, is much harder than in Windows even when Windows is run correctly as a Limited user. Sadly when its easy to exploit, somebody will write it. The story of windows malware is that so much has been written now, that one has to be very careful of windows trojans. The fact that most linux users get all their software in an repo that is run by the distro, checked for malware and problems, also makes Linux even more secure than even Mac.
Posted by Chips B Malroy | April 21, 2009 4:15 PM
chips, why don't you disclose to everyone that Linux Corporation GAVE you a free Laptop! The ASUS Eee PC 900 16G. You are as bad as Andrea. You are both shills for your gifthorses. Here is the link for chips' free laptop info: www.chipsgetsfreelaptopfromlinuxmegacorp.org/free/laptop/hypocrite/justlikeandrea
Posted by evan | April 21, 2009 4:23 PM
Sun will be missed that is certain. My company currently uses MySQL and it will be interesting to see what happens. MySQL is completely free with no constraints while Oracle has this free express version with constraints. I don't see a migration to Oracle anytime soon, but a forced migration is eventually possible due to licensing.
.
I was disappointed to see that IBM did not acquire Sun. I think the execs will regret the decision later.
Posted by JM | April 21, 2009 4:27 PM
ARM-powered Android netbook tips up
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/858/1051858/arm-powered-android-netbook-tips
"Fair enough, the guys from Guanzhou are only flogging the little lappie for $100 , but even for that paltry sum the Alpha-680 Google Android netbook is a bit naff.
Made from what appears to be very cheap plastic, the netbook sports a tiddly seven inch display with 800 x 480 WVGA resolution, has only 128MB of DDR2 memory, 1GB NAND flash and runs on an ARM 11 533 MHz 32bit CPU.
To its credit, however, the netbook does seem to have a swively touchscreen, Wifi, Ethernet, 3G, a couple of USB ports and an SD card slot bunged into the low-cost package."
--------------------------------------------------
So "Prepare to be underwhelmed." But consider this, its only $100. Thats right, $100. And no M$ touching it either. This is one of the first ARM netbooks available, there will be many others, maybe some that will not "underwhelm" the Windose fanbois. That fact that they can sell a netbook this cheap, has got to cause major concerns from those shilling M$.
I see, as I look into the cystal ball, Microsoft, laying off more people, maybe in a year or two, starting to lose money, maybe selling off parts of its business, like zune, Xbox360, other losers.
Posted by Chips B Malroy | April 21, 2009 4:29 PM
@Evan:
You would be more believable if there was an actual site like that. You link gives this reply:
"The following error was encountered while trying to retrieve the URL: http://www.chipsgetsfreelaptopfromlinuxmegacorp.org/free/laptop/hypocrite/justlikeandrea
Unable to determine IP address from host name "www.chipsgetsfreelaptopfromlinuxmegacorp.org"
The DNS server returned:
Name Error: The domain name does not exist.
This means that the cache was not able to resolve the hostname presented in the URL. Check if the address is correct."
--------------------------------------------------
So Evan, you really are Andre Da Costa, with just another name. Why else would you being doing this, but to just give yourself (Andre) more publicity.
That you are a Linux Hater there is no doubt. That you hate anyone who does not promote the products of M$, there is no doubt. Sad really.
Posted by Chips B Malroy | April 21, 2009 4:39 PM
Researcher Offers Tool to Hide Malware in .Net
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/163319/researcher_offers_tool_to_hide_malware_in_net.html
".Net-Sploit allows a hacker to modify the .Net framework on targeted machines, inserting rootkit-style malicious software in a place untouched by security software and where few security people would think to look, said Erez Metula, the software security engineer for 2BSecure who wrote the tool.
"You'll be amazed at how easy it is to devise an attack," Metula said during a presentation at the Black Hat security conference in Amsterdam on Friday."
--------------------------------------------------
Yes, its easy hacking a Windows system as most of its users run as an administrator account. And now Net has has another exploit, which is for Windows, of course.
Posted by Chips B Malroy | April 21, 2009 5:08 PM
Chips, buddy, aren't calling the kettle black there - at least a little? Seems to me you are an "anything but Microsoft" kind of guy and like to shout about it from as many rooftops as possible.
That you are a Microsoft hater is no doubt. That you hate anyone who promotes the products of Microsoft, there is no doubt. Sad really...
Posted by Sean | April 21, 2009 5:44 PM
More Microsoft layoffs looming? Seattle analyst cites possibility
http://www.techflash.com/More_Microsoft_layoffs_looming_Seattle_analyst_cites_possibility_43283682.html
We've asked a Microsoft representative for comment on the McAdams Wright Ragen report, and we'll update this post depending on the response. (Update: Microsoft declined to comment.) Last week, Microsoft general counsel Brad Smith was asked about the status of layoffs, and he said the statements made by the company in January still applied.
Prior to the last cutbacks, Parakh accurately predicted that Microsoft would make layoffs but overestimated the amount, predicting cutbacks of 6,000 to 8,000 employees.
In his report today, Parakh said he expects Microsoft to report results lower than the Wall Street consensus of $14.1 billion in revenue and 39 cents in earnings per share. He write that ongoing weakness in enterprise spending are likely to implement Microsoft's core businesses.
-----------------
Then, possibly more MS' blogger fired?
Posted by Marco | April 21, 2009 5:50 PM
Fortunately OpenOffice, MySQL and Java can all fork if Oracle does wrong by them. The beauty of open source is that it can survive this sort of corporate shenanigans. The source will simply show up again under a different name and continue on. MySQL has already done this post the Sun purchase. It might make sense for the Eclipse foundation to take over Java.
Posted by smist08 | April 21, 2009 5:56 PM
Ballmer, IBM reportedly surprised by Oracle-Sun deal
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10223089-56.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-5
Reporters caught up with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer in Moscow to get his take on Oracle's deal to buy Sun Microsystems for $7.4 billion.
But apparently Ballmer, who is rarely at a loss for words, didn't exactly have a sound byte at the ready.
"I need to think about it," Ballmer told reporters in Moscow, according to Reuters. "I am very surprise
Oracle is, of course, one of Microsoft's chief rivals in the database and business applications space--a fact that Ballmer highlighted in an interview in February. Sun is also a longtime rival, although the two companies have had a technology partnership in recent years stemming from their settlement of legal hostilities back in 2004.
I imagine we'll hear far more from Ballmer and Microsoft in the coming days and weeks.
-------
Apparently this fusion is very bad for MS'interest
Posted by Marco | April 21, 2009 6:09 PM
chips you are as stupid as you are ugly. Just because you don't know how to follow a link, or your mommy has net nanny on your computer, does not mean the link doesn't work on real computers for real adults, with even an iota of intelligence. It doesn't matter anyway. I notice you have not denied the free netbook whatsoever. You are a bought and paid for Linux fanboi & shill. You have no credibility sitting there on your paid-for by Linux Corp. Asus netbook! You have no business dissing on Andrea when you got a free netbook from Linux. No credibility chips. You have no credibility.
Posted by evan | April 21, 2009 6:28 PM
I agree with evan. Chips's pro-Lunix fanaticism cannot be tolerated anymore. Measures must be taken. I am declaring a jihad on Chips. All those bribed with cheap microsoft laptops, come join us to spam this blog with DRM-protected microsoft propaganda. Lie, cheat, steal identities! Curse, swear and ridicule! For Microsoft!...(and new Vista2 Starter laptops)
Posted by Ridley | April 21, 2009 6:53 PM
Good God Ridley, aren't you just so excited about the all-new spectacular Vista2 starter!?!?! And Microsoft, being the awesome, caring and giving corporation that it is, will allow us, at a price, to move up to an uncrippled version! I cannot wait to get my own netbook with Windows Vista2 crippled edition, just to see how cool it is to pay to upgrade to the uncrippled version. And how about that chips loser!?!?! He is so blinded by an O.S. that is stable, reliable, modern and (gulp!) free! That is just NOT what users are looking for in a P.C. experience. Users want, no users DEMAND Windows!
Posted by evan | April 21, 2009 7:09 PM
MS should not cripple 7 on netbooks. Doing so is inviting Linux to make a big comeback. I don't see why they cannot just make a full-featured edition, call it netbook edition, and offer an upgrade to an ultimate edition for a reasonable price. The ultimate edition would be a collection of cool extras that some might find value in. But to cripple Windows is asking for trouble. No one wants to get a great deal on a netbook at say $300 and immediately have to plunk down another $100 or whatever, to make it work. It's like blackmail. With Linux, if you don't like the version it comes with, get the one you want and install it. For how much? Oh yeah, no charge.
Posted by Tim Schmidt | April 21, 2009 7:20 PM
Ha,ha,ha
I said that, Chips you are like to magnet to attract shills
--------------
But remember:
“Don Quixote of Mancha: It leaves dogs them bark Sancho friend, is signal that we are happening.”
Miguel de Cervantes.
Posted by Marco | April 21, 2009 7:23 PM
ARM Netbook: Custom Ubuntu Linux and ARMv7 chips
http://www.product-reviews.net/2008/11/13/arm-netbook-custom-ubuntu-linux-and-armv7-chips/
"ARM has announced that they are to team up with Canonical, and will build new processors for Ubuntu Desktop operating system, which use the ARMv7 architecture. The netbooks in question are the ARM Cortex-A8 and Cortex-A9 processor-based systems.
ARM believes that their processors are perfect for use in a netbook, as they are highly efficient, and are optimized for Web browsing. ARM are looking at 8.9-inch and 10-inch systems, and look forward to offering a netbook that can run all day on one full charge."
--------------------------------------------------
What else does the future hold for the "Borg?" How about moving most of the windows OS development to Bangalore India? Rumor has it that is already started, as wages for programmers, taxes, and bribing Politicians are so much lower than in Redmond. So as the fortunes of the Borg start to fall, M$ will move, and this company will not be an "American" company at all.
Posted by Chips B Malroy | April 21, 2009 7:26 PM
Jeez, Chips! Have you no decency? For other readers please understand that Chips was bribed by Canonical as well! He was paid millions of dollars just to mention Unbunto running on ARM based notebooks. He'll do anything to promote Unbunto now. I'm joining Ridley's jihad!
Posted by Sean | April 21, 2009 7:40 PM
History of Orcale tells you what will happen to the OpenSource projects.
Orcale has Berkleydb another Open Source Database. So as long as Mysql is profitable Orcale will keep it.
Orcale is having its high end eaten by postgresql in the form of Enterprise db.
Sun might have supported Open Source. But Orcale has been a long term friend to Linux.
Posted by oiaohm | April 21, 2009 7:42 PM
@Marco, who says:
"But remember:
“Don Quixote of Mancha: It leaves dogs them bark Sancho friend, is signal that we are happening.”
----------------------------------------------------
And like the dogs with fleas that M$ shills are, you can just smell the fear! They have nothing, no facts, no ideas, no clue. They resort to the lowest forms of lying and impersonations. M$ shills are fast becoming the source of humor and entertainment on the internet with their wild claims and falsehoods.
The price of these Netbooks will kill Micro$oft. Bangalore will not be enough to save M$. Layoffs will not be enough, and there will be more than just the 5000, that is already starting to be reported as rumor now. I expect M$ to try to port Windows XP to arm, but it does them no good, because not enough apps and games can be ported to make it work. People who buy Arm Netbooks do not want to spend several times more on M$ bloatware software for the cheapest computer. Not going happen, and if M$ does it, going sink them faster, as they cannot get back the money they pour into it.
@Goblin:
This link is for you:
Novell: No SUSE Linux for ARM-based netbooks
http://www.techworld.com.au/article/295901/novell_no_suse_linux_arm-based_netbooks
--------------------------------------------------
Have to wonder about the Oracle deal. Would have preferred IBM myself. But this has to push Oracle in some way or the other. Does it want to be a friend of Open Source/Linux, or does it want to be sort of a Ballnux type of company? I would say, stay tuned to see what happens. But if they only bought Sun to kill all the open source software, than I guess they can just afford to throw away 7.2 Billion is it?
The other point I would make, is it might be better for Oracle to continue the GPL software, as my guess is that if they do not, its possible for someone, or some outfit to fork it.
Posted by Chips B Malroy | April 21, 2009 7:52 PM
Open Source is unkillable. If Oracle shows anything less than full enthusiasm for MySQL, it will fork: others will take the torch and run with it. There has already been dissatisfaction with OpenOffice, leading to projects like go-oo.org. As long as there is demand, there will be a community willing to support and develop it. Oracle can do nothing to stop that.
Posted by Lawrence D'Oliveiro | April 21, 2009 7:56 PM
Sean, you should join the jihad! chips makes Andrea look like the most unbiased source on this site! He makes accusations and disses Andrea and others, all the while he is a bought and paid for shill. Taking freebies from every type of open-source source! chips has no decency. chips has no shame. chips has no credibility.
So whatever you read from chips, take it with a grain of salt. His posts are full of lies and holes, half-truths and innuendos. Go ahead and read for entertainment, but that is all his rants and "stories" are. What about that free laptop? How can you be unbiased when you are given a free frickin' Asus netbook?!?!? (it really is a nice netbook I have to say) With frickin' Linux on it! He is a bought and paid for shill. And he dares to call out Andrea on his free Windows laptop.
Posted by evan | April 21, 2009 8:08 PM
NEWSFLASH!
Chips, famous Lunix apologist just bought $40 million estate in France's Azure coast with his blood money (Canonical bribe). Now tell me, am I borderline insane or just ridiculous troll?
Posted by Sean | April 21, 2009 8:10 PM
@Sean:
I have to admit, I find your posts funny and entertaining. You have talent, and you did it without being mean or profane. Thanks for the laughs!
Posted by Chips B Malroy | April 21, 2009 8:15 PM
"For Microsoft, Oracle's Sun acquisition is potentially a huge victory over open source."
It is the opposite actually.
Oracle have 2 choices, kill MySQL or embrace it.
If they kill or just abandon it, then within 5 minutes there will be a new fork called OurSQL. The code is licensed under the GPL so it is free.
If they decide to embrace it (they should - they paid for it) then Oracle will be contributing to open source. They are by far the best database in the business and they would have a very positive affect on MySQL.
Either way it is bad for Microsoft.
"MySQL is a nasty little competitor Oracle has no reason to keep."
They are not in competition at all. Oracle is used for very different situations than MySQL. Nobody is planning to swap their Oracle DB for MySQL (or vice versa). If they can reduce the internal costs then MySQL can mean they cover the entire database spectrum, Microsoft doesn't really excel in either area.
Posted by billybob | April 21, 2009 8:33 PM
Neither fall into the hand of IBM nor Oracle , Sun 's products will be disappeared very soon .
I preduct MySQL will vanish
Tell me since when Oracle offers free stuffs ...
Posted by John | April 21, 2009 10:33 PM
The statements coming out of Oracle make no sense - they're interested primarily in the storage products? For many years now Oracle has had some features that just aren't available in many DBs because Oracle had been catering to incredibly huge DBs for a very long time. So I can see why Oracle has an interest in storage: do you need a few exabytes storage for your DB? Oracle has the solution ...
The question is: what becomes of the other assets acquired? Solaris may be of value if Oracle wish to continue supporting Oracle on Solaris (probably one of the most popular platforms for Oracle). Or Oracle may issue an upcoming end-of-life letter to Oracle/Solaris customers (migrate to Unbreakable Linux *now*). Presumably Oracle can be really evil and sell the Sun Patent Portfolio to MS - Larry Ellison is a textbook businessman so if I were Larry (hah, I wish I had his money) I'd be looking at who'd give me the best money for bits and pieces of Sun.
Oracle also has an opportunity to expand its business by creating an alternative to Microsoft which is appealing to corporations. Imagine if Solaris were more like OSX ... If such a venture really took hold, Oracle can sell its stake in the business for a fortune. That would be good for Oracle too because it will give MS a hard time and cripple their gnawing at Oracle's DB business. Does the MS database run on Solaris? No? Oh, what a pity; better get an Oracle then. On the other hand, there may be less work in creating that sort of system for Linux instead.
Posted by Anonymouse | April 21, 2009 10:47 PM
This is Evan the Real one, not the person impersonating me. I will change myname to Evan2k from now on. But Joe you should do something about this.
Chips, I did not post any of the comments on this article besides this one. Somebody, just impersonates people defending windows to discredit them, by attacking other people and posting nonsense. Now to the Article.
The real question is what will happen to Java. It has alread been broken into different versions and who knows what Oracle will do to control it.
Posted by Evan2k | April 22, 2009 1:53 AM
Cool it guys
Check this out
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yX8yrOAjfKM&feature=channel
Posted by Jim | April 22, 2009 5:18 AM
[OT]
@Chips:
Wow - an ARM11@533MHz + screen for only $100? Damn, I'll buy a few dozen of those, tear them apart, and build them into my scientific instruments. For one particular project a 60MHz ARM would do, but 533 has got some other applications.
Posted by Anonymouse | April 22, 2009 6:40 AM
Java is a standard and there are already many open source implementations.
It is not in their best interest to try to control it, not every company has the same business model as Microsoft.
They are better off improving it and promoting it than trying to kill it.
Does anyone notice how this aligns Oracle as a direct competitor to Microsoft in lots of ways.
Windows Server -> Unbreakable Linux
SQL Server -> Oracle DB / MySQL
Office -> Star Office
.NET/C# -> Java
Oracle has a very good reputation with business, so does Java. If Oracle can do good things with these products then Microsoft should watch out. Oracle know about reliability and scalability so maybe they are planning a head-on assault in the cloud?
I do not believe this is bad at all for Linux, Joe, you are assuming that Oracle is out to kill all the competition. This is probably the opposite of what will happen.
Nokia did not buy and kill Qt because it competes with Symbian. They improved it a lot and now they pay for developers to work on Open Source projects.
Posted by billybob | April 22, 2009 7:53 AM
When I first read the news I was going to be sad because I remember how I used to like the names of Sun products. People got photographed kissing their new Sun machines 'n all that.
Then I realized I don't give a u-no-what about Sun, nor Solaris and I only programmed up one app in Java ever back in 2000. Java is dying a slow death. I don't care about Sun.
I'm not sad at all except that a familiar name's gone. They do/did make nice boxes - ocatane and other stuff:
http://www.bakerstreetresources.com/images/Used-Sun-Equipment.jpg
The only times I use Solaris directly is when visiting the local universities to browse the catalogues .. and I don't like it - especially the browsing software running on it.
So - oh well - but I don't care and don't feel sad.
Now go take the day!
Posted by Clump | April 22, 2009 9:51 AM
As Joe mentioned, Silicon Graphics, aka SGI, is suffering a worse fate. It's sad, but it's further evidence that technical success does not necessarily lead to business success.
The Silicon Graphics Indigo workstation was once the stuff of dreams. For graphics and video professionals, there was nothing else. The Apple computers were slow and limited, the Windows-based computers (Window 2.X and Windows 3.0) were useless toys, and the Mac Quadra was not yet available.
You wanted a low-cost platform for Adobe Photoshop? The Apple Mac was it. But you wanted a high-end platform that breezed through the toughest jobs, the largest images, and handled more than one job with ease, then your only choice was the Silicon Graphics Indigo workstation. Which ran Irix, their version of Unix.
Adobe Photoshop ran on Mac and on Unix long before it ran on Windows. Windows didn't even make a serious showing until Microsoft introduced Windows 3.1, added TrueType and support for Adobe Type 1 fonts, and added support for the other features that graphics professionals demanded.
A lot of the people who are commenting on this blog are very young and only see 2000, XP, Vista, and 7 when they think of Microsoft operating systems. They don't remember how long it took Microsoft to work up to producing a platform that wasn't a useless joke; a technical disaster, a laughable toy. Linux isn't ready for serious desktops? Yes, but it's a lot closer than Microsoft's operating systems were not so very long ago. And what Linux lacks in the form of a focused business model, it makes up for with the harnessing of a world-wide pool of immense talent and passion for excellence.
Thanks for the trip down memory lane, Joe!
Posted by Philosopher | April 22, 2009 10:01 AM
Real Evan here. Yeah, chips is Linux-loving fanatic alright. He just doesn't understand the real world. He makes these claims about Linux's stability, quality, reliability and compatibility. Yeah, it's true, but that is not the point. He doesn't get real P.C. users. Real P.C. users want the familiarity and comfort of blue screens, malware, freezes, reboots, drive-bys and much much more that makes Microsoft and Windows what it is today. He doesn't understand that if the world switched to Linux, people would have way to much time on their hands, and idle hands are the devil's playground. And as I have proven earlier, Linux will suck our natural resources dry. If the world is on as stable a platform as Linux, no one will shut their P.C.'s off! There will be rampant brownouts across the globe! No, no, no. That cannot be allowed to happen. And I am cofident the Microsoft Machine can thwart this possible menace to society.
Posted by Evan2K | April 22, 2009 10:33 AM
@ Philosopher
"A lot of the people who are commenting on this blog are very young and only see 2000, XP, Vista, and 7 when they think of Microsoft operating systems."
True indeed. I also wonder how many of them have actually set foot in a data center.
Posted by JM | April 22, 2009 2:22 PM
Chips is nothing but a fucking punk...
Posted by WorldDominion | April 22, 2009 4:06 PM