Sun needs x86 drivers

Sun needs x86 drivers

Posted Jul 18, 2003 11:40 UTC (Fri) by zonker (subscriber, #7867)
In reply to: Sun needs x86 drivers by stuart2048
Parent article: SCO insider trading watch

But surely it can be only good for Sun that Linux is building demand for the Unix model.

Um, have you not been paying attention to the attrition of customers from Sun to Linux? Linux isn't building demand for the Unix model, it's building demand for Linux -- something Sun hasn't quite figured out, or is unwilling to learn. People aren't using Linux and then saying "hey, I want to go out and get a proprietary version of something like this that's far more expensive, not much better, with vendor lock-in and really expensive hardware."

But a lot of people who have been using Solaris, Aix and other proprietary Unix systems are looking at Linux and saying "hey, this is just as good, or good enough, and it runs on far cheaper hardware, costs less and I can pick and choose my vendors -- or support it myself. I'm in!"

Even more than Microsoft, Sun has a lot to lose from the success of Linux unless they can figure out how to make money from it -- which doesn't seem to be happening, since most of their Linux efforts are half-hearted and mostly just seem to be ways to let their sales force say "hey, we have Linux solutions, but look at this Solaris solution over here..."

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