With all respect, you're missing some major points, and in many cases (following the thread here) you are simply misinformed.
The Linux thing is about mindshare. Linux mindshare equals Sun (open/Unix) mindshare. In the shorter term, Linux is about tying up Wintel on the low end, complimenting Sun on the high end. It's a big squeeze.
Although Linux/BSD runs circles around NT, it isn't in the same league as Solaris. Hype aside, Linux isn't as mature. It isn't as scalable. It isn't as industrial (as in industrial strength). The one thing Linux does exceedingly well, is run on all the various legacy PC boxes floating around out there. I can tell you as a Linux user, my next PC won't be a PC, but rather a low end UltraSparc (or clone).
The scalability thing is significant. A Linux SysAdmin earns MUCH more than an NT SysAdmin. A Solaris SysAdmin earns significantly more than either. The mindshare wants to rise to the top of the spectrum.
Although PCs are cheaper than Ultras, Ultras have higher margins. The RISC architecture is less expensive to produce than Intel's CISC. You have it backwards when you say that Intel is cheaper.
SUNW at it's core is about 'open standards'. Where MSFT seeks to embrace and extend to proprietary advantage as a key component of it's business model, Sun takes a longer co-operative view, where 'open' is everything. There aren't any obscured APIs. It's all published and documented for the community. Solaris is open in that it uses open (not proprietary) standards. Sun has talked about opening the source code for Solaris. The issue, for the most part is parts of the code that are owned by third parties. Java is open. It has been released with a community license. The reason that didn't happen sooner was because it was basically a sure bet that the non-co-operative crooks in Redmond would have stolen, embraced and extended it. Regarding the hardware, Sun has recently announced that they are opening up the SPARC spec (a brilliant move).
So, it's all about 'open'. 'Open' is the Kryptonite to Microsoft's Superman. With Linux flanking MSFT for Sun on the low-end, it spells nothing but good things for SUNW, and may very well end up wreaking complete havoc to the current MSFT business model.
-JCJ
|
