SUNW by pretending to be above the desktop is making some serious corporate mistakes. If they want to grow they need to dream up a desktop strategy as they play around in the sand box with all this JINI / net device hype. Just look at what Apple has managed to do with the IMac ... SUNW could be in the same position on the desktop if they invested the effort.
James, I actually agree with you on this point. I believe it's a mistake Sun management is making today and has been making, by failing to rebound aggressively from the original Javastation fiasco. I don't think the result would be the same as the iMAC because it would be more open (I mean, the iMAC really is proprietary iron), but I think that Sun, along with partners in both hardware and software, should be much more aggressive on creating an alternative desktop platform. You and I might differ on details of the platform (i.e., I see it mostly as a family of network computers based entirely on Java, some with local disks, some without), but that's a detail in the big picture.
I think that the key missing ingredient is application software, and since Java is now so popular with software developers I don't understand why Sun hasn't done more in this area. If there's one piece of the SUNW puzzle that scares me, it's that Java application development isn't producing enough visible products despite the millions of Java books being sold. The Wintel juggernaut has desktop software developers of all stripes by the "short and curlies" and pays much more attention and money to that area than the Java contingent, which is a little too focussed on the server and the infrastructure of the future (viz. the MOT deal today) at the expense of present-day applications.
So why don't you call Scotty and tell him what we think?
Regards,
--QwikSand |
