Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

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

To: E_K_S who wrote (28028)	2/20/2000 11:18:00 AM
From: rudedog	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 64865

Eric - re: What's your opinion on Sunw's approach in integrating the LINUX OS to work with SOLARIS in their overall approach of a unified operating system? My opinion is that SUNW's long term interest is to provide as much support for Linux applications and even components as possible in Solaris without necessarily supporting Linux itself. There has been a fair amount of discussion on this thread and elsewhere that Solaris is actually hampered by the image of being "the best Unix" and is better positioned as the most robust industrial-strength operating system, with the broadest capability and best interoperability with a range of other systems. Java and EJB play to that theme. This stresses the Unix heritage while reducing the Unix baggage. So if an application gains in popularity on Linux because of simple economics - for example Apache running on Linux on a low cost Intel-based server - an organization which has a substantial investment in SUNW platforms, or who wants to move in that direction, should have the assurance that they can also run applications developed for Linux on those SUNW platforms and expect the same benefits as any other Solaris application. But that compatibility does not need to extend to drivers, system software, absolute API convergence, or anything like that. As I have said a number of times, part of the reputation for Solaris robustness and reliability results from a much smaller matrix of things that can exist in that environment, especially at the system level. There is a lot of risk and not much benefit to expanding that matrix. regarding How will the two OS's eventually morph?... I see Solaris morphing into the "consolidated open platform" both from a positioning perspective and in reality - which implies that SUNW needs to maintain more control, not less, and resist any tendency towards balkanization. I could see a greater argument for convergence at the low end of the line, especially in the X86 products, but even there I would rather see that space go to Linux, and see Solaris maintain the high ground. The dynamics of the Linux space will drive the perception of cost to zero, and I would frankly prefer to see the value proposition for Solaris remain at something greater than zero in EVERY segment where it appears. X86 as a platform is not important to SUNW - and the development, market share and unit numbers confirm that. X86 Solaris has been useful primarily for accounts who have an investment in Solaris on SPARC and want to maintain the broadest administration compatibility, or want to fill in some low end system requirements without disrupting their administration or support model, and that is the right place for the product IMO. Switching to Linux for a moment, that community might be well served by shifting their focus from compatibility with a broad set of Unix variants to a focus on compatibility with Solaris first, and "Unix" second, especially if SUNW is successful in establishing Solaris as the reference open systems OS. Why? Because then Linux positions itself as the "little brother" to Solaris, which gives them a better reliability and support "halo", while still giving the open source community the freedom to innovate and tailor... this could also open the door to Linux becoming the replacement for Solaris X86, which would fill the same strategic slot as Solaris X86 fills today while relieving SUNW of the burden of maintaining and driving a product which as QS has pointed out, has always been an orphan child. Is the OS choice based on microprocessor type? What is SUNW's plan when Intel releases McKinely? any guesses? Well, as I said above, I think the OS choice is heavily influenced by processor and systems architecture. I don't think Solaris is necessarily wedded to a processor architecture - if they successfully position themselves as the reference for robust, high end open systems, the actual processor is much less important. Having said that, I think that proliferation of the "real" Solaris outside of SUNW would be a big mistake, not only because it could compromise the integrity of the customer experience, and therefore expectations, but also because it would reduce SUNW's ability to stay in touch with their user base and development community. So whatever platforms Solaris eventually runs on, they should be SUNW platforms... If McKinley becomes a popular product and high end platforms exploiting the architecture make significant inroads into the high end - which is a big "if" - then it might be in SUNW's interest to develop a high end product in that space as well, and I also think that SUNW could get out of the microprocessor business without risking their credibility if they managed the transition carefully. But I don't see any big pressure at the moment for them to go down that road. Let Intel and others do the "heavy lifting". In the meantime, SUNW can move away from SPARC as a defining technology, and more to Solaris, Java, EJB, administration and management, and other architectural components as the reasons for customers to adopt or maintain interest in SUNW's products. Will SUNW offer a LINUX/SOLARIS/UNIX hybrid OS? I would be surprised and disappointed if that happened.

To: E_K_S who wrote (28028)	2/21/2000 4:33:00 PM
From: JC Jaros	Respond to of 64865

Do you think SUNW is doing enough to integrate LINUX with SOLARIS? That would definitely be a 'yes', Eric. Sun has made Solaris 8 so that it sits next to Linux nicely. You can dual boot the two now and share files without needing an engineering degree. I'm looking forward to March for the production Solaris 8 to finally get to do that dual boot thing. Sun is positioning the low end Ultras for Linux. There are 4 separate Linux distro download links from the sun.com site itself. I'm seeing increasing availability of Ultra/Sparc linux binaries on the net. Sun (with the help of blackdown.org) has just won the Linux JDK war with the production release of Java 2. Coupled with the free Forte (Netbeans) javatool, Linux is now the Java development platform Sun wants it to be. Related... java.sun.com Hey, here's a new site in the right direction... solariscentral.org Will SUNW offer a LINUX/SOLARIS/UNIX hybrid OS? They already are merged. Linux developer/admins become Solaris/Java developer/admins. :) Syncopated riddems. Otherwise, licensing issues aside, they are far enough apart architecturally as to preclude that from happening. On one hand, Sun is keeping Linux at arms length as a 'brand' and on the other hand, they're pushing hard into the Linux community. Anyway, it all comes down to this... linuxapps.com <g> -JCJ