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Technology Stocks : All About Sun Microsystems -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Marvin Mansky who wrote (25061)	12/19/1999 1:31:00 AM
From: Mephisto	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 64865

[doesn't it hurt their dominant UNIX operating system revenues?] Either JCJ or QWIK could give you a good answer because they have the technical expertise. Cheers, Mephisto

To: Marvin Mansky who wrote (25061)	12/19/1999 4:36:00 AM
From: QwikSand	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 64865

Will LINUX help SUNW more than hurting it's Solaris sales? I think Sun's official stance is in 2 parts: 1. The "enemy of my enemy is my friend" type of thing. Linux isn't NT/W2K. A rising Unix/Linux tide lifts all Unix boats and swamps M$FT (so goes the theory). Solaris is Linux' big brother. In a world full of Linux users, Solaris looks familiar, can run some of the same binaries (in the Intel case anyway and maybe SPARC too), and is the logical big-server system. Etc. 2. The hugely overwhelming majority of Linux boxes are Intel boxes, Linux seats hurt Microsoft more than they hurt Sun (Since Solaris Intel is basically free and Windows basically isn't). SPARCstations running Linux are relatively few and are certainly noise on Sun's bottom line (and that's the hardware gain, not the software loss). Displacement of Solaris on those boxes is no issue at all. Linux helps to expand an environment where the operating system can be anything, platforms are networked, distributed, and reasonably open, and no monopoly collects software taxes on every seat. That's Sun's vision and Sun wins to the extent that vision is realized. (At least this is the party line). BWDIK --QS

To: Marvin Mansky who wrote (25061)	12/19/1999 12:08:00 PM
From: rudedog	Respond to of 64865

marvin - IMHO, a successful Linux, with a SPARC port, will do more to help Solaris than hurt it. Linux currently has weak SMP support and does not scale well beyond 4P, admin tools are weak, and the kind of distribution and support that enterprise customers demand is simply not there and will not be there for years. So Linux can make inroads in specific areas where the use is well defined and relatively simple (such as Apache web servers), the Linux community has solved most of the issues for that simple use model, and the requirements will grow by adding more boxes, not by going to larger machines. What is SUNW's advantage in a Linux SPARC port? If the development community starts creating or porting productivity and other apps to Linux, much of the work to have those apps run over Solaris will also be done, which could enhance the "end to end" appeal of solaris to the end user and provide protection against erosion in the low end of the workstation line without a lot of investment from SUNW. Likewise if that takes off in the Intel-based space, then Solaris users may have an easier time creating environments which include x86-based Solaris systems, at a cost more comparable to Wintel, and again without a big SUNW R&D investment. There is little chance that Linux will take much of the opportunity currently enjoyed by Solaris - it just does not have the features and support needed.

To: Marvin Mansky who wrote (25061)	12/19/1999 1:55:00 PM
From: Thomas Mercer-Hursh	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 64865

Will LINUX help SUNW more than hurting it's Solaris sales? I don't think there is any box maker who makes any appreciable revenue from OS sales. The OS is simply there to make the box work well. If Sun offers a choice, it will just move more boxes.