Elmer, John - Sun's decision to use Linux/x86 is a JIHAD against Microsoft !!!
"``We want to make sure that the open systems community, the open source community, stands united against Microsoft and IBM,'' he said, drawing a parallel between Sun's commitment to building programs on common standards and Linux's heritage of allowing developers access to source code. "
These yoyo's are becoming the Fatwah Sanders of the Server world !!!
biz.yahoo.com
Thursday February 7, 1:35 pm Eastern Time
Sun Micro to roll out new low-end Linux servers
(UPDATE: adds detail, comments from company executives and analysts, background)
SAN FRANCISCO, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Network computer maker Sun Microsystems Inc. (NasdaqNM:SUNW - news) said on Thursday it planned to offer a new line of lower-cost computer servers based on the upstart Linux operating system rather than its own software.
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The announcement was a surprise and a defensive move by the company. Sun has always argued its Solaris system's key asset was its ability to run on any sized machine.
But Sun said Linux was an important alternative operating system to the Windows system from its archrival Microsoft Corp.(NasdaqNM:MSFT - news)
Freely available Linux is spreading among corporate users aiming to cut costs, although analysts say it cannot yet handle some of the biggest tasks and ones that need extreme security. It is usually confined to mundane tasks such as Web site management or payroll systems.
Sun dipped its toes into Linux about a year ago with a line of ``appliance'' servers, which are computers intended for single tasks, like handling a small business's e-mail. The company said in a statement Thursday it would extend that line and introduce software tools and support to help programs run interchangeably on Solaris and Linux.
``The announcement today strikes me as a big departure from your united architecture message,'' Toni Sacconaghi, an analyst at Sanford Bernstein, said to Sun executives in a conference call. He was referring to Sun's strategy of offering a single software design for a wide range of technical uses.
Sun Chief Operating Officer Ed Zander repeatedly batted the perception that Solaris would suffer.
``We want to make sure that the open systems community, the open source community, stands united against Microsoft and IBM,'' he said, drawing a parallel between Sun's commitment to building programs on common standards and Linux's heritage of allowing developers access to source code.
IBM (NYSE:IBM - news) led established technology companies pushing Linux, arguing operating systems running individual machines were becoming commodities. IBM saw a profit providing services and ``middleware'' software to glue a network together.
Microsoft, meanwhile, is challenging Solaris and other expensive operating systems for the middle ground of less expensive servers.
For Sun, the clear immediate threat is that Linux products will cannibalize its own Solaris servers, but the larger question is whether Sun could prosper if it refused to acknowledge Linux.
Sun executives said the operating system was simply not an issue in some areas, and that Linux would dominate there. ``This is an evolving systems company,'' said Stephen DeWitt, the Sun executive who heads the current Linux line.
Sun said it would give details of the new server line, which will run on so-called ``x86'' microchips popularized by Intel Corp (NasdaqNM:INTC - news) by mid-year.
Goldman Sachs analyst Laura Conigliaro said on the call that the early announcement could be viewed as defensive.
But Steve Josselyn, an analyst at technology research firm International Data Corp., said the truth of the Sun's Linux push would be in the details.
``It can be read in both ways,'' he said.
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