Slashdot Mirror
Sun Reconsidering Solaris 9 for x86
jeffphil writes "This article reports that Sun is meeting with a group of Solaris x86 users called the 'Secret Six.' The group was created to convince Sun to re-examine its previous decision to cancel Solaris on the x86 platform."
So again, I reiterate, who cares?
If you bothered to read the article, you surely would've found this:
One analyst said Solaris on Intel is of particular help for users looking to create large-scale symmetric multiprocessing systems on low-cost hardware.
I can subscribe to that; linux is not (yet) a match for Solaris/i386 on SMP.
The sad part is that a lot of companies stopped producing "third-party" software for Solaris/i386 when Sun annouced it's demise; even if they change their minds now, the chances are slim for popular support for the platform.
if you use a good enough junk-filter, slashdot.org will display a single, *blank*, page
I didn't think x86 solaris had that many users.
The problem with Solaris for the x86 is that it was overpriced.
Sun: So..Lets uh.... lets go over our findings so far.
S6: Ok..Here's uh..here's what we've got so far. Between the uh..the six of us...uh, 1 of us has heard of Solaris for x86. That would be uh... 18% of the population."
Sun: Fantastic. 18%. Wow. Management is gonna love that. 18.. wow....18% of the... wow. The new "insanity first" initiative here at the company is going to get off to a...uh..to a really, really impressive start. You know, just uh...acting like Linux doesnt exist just wont cut it anymore. We need to be REALLY insane this quarter... We need to uhh...raise the bar on....you know, management says "we need more insanity" and we need to deliver. We cant be insane enough, if you ask me....So.. Lets not only act like Linux doesnt exist, but lets get really crazy. But lets keep it sane. Crazy, but sane. uhh..Ok. Can I have a graph of your figures? Y'know, uhh..something to show them..?"
S6: Uhh.. Sure, here you go. A graph that shows that 18% of us have heard of Solaris for x86."
Sun: Fantastic. Ok, before I..before I uh...hand in my reccomendation on going forward with Solaris 9 for x86, lets uh..lets recap. Ok. We need to be insane. We need 10% minimum.. So you're uh...you're saying we meet both, uh..exceed both. Right?
S6: Uhh..yeah. Yes, definately. We've got a final figure of 18%, and we're insane. Thats correct.
Sun: Great. Ok, one minor concern.. This line here, this graph is sort of..uh..flat.. Its just a flat line going..uh..across the page. Can we do anything with that to uh...make it..you know, more uh..positive?
S6: Here. Let me show you.. (papers ruffled)
Sun: You guys are incredible. Thanks so much. How about we uh....tenatively, 9 AM tomorrow? We'll go over our results. I..uh...yeah, 9 AM sounds good for me.
S6: Ok. 5PM? Sounds good. 3PM. Gotcha.
Sun: Gotcha. 11:21 AM. See you then, gang.
Cheers,
Bowie J. Poag
Kudo's to Sun on this one.
It's not that I'm all that fond of x86, I just love the example that they are setting here. They make an executive decision, there is a public uproar, and they stop and reconsider.
Even if they don't decide to continue supporting x86, they have given us a clear signal that they are listening to our opinions, and are willing to negotiate/cooperate with the community.
That is what is missing in some Monopolies that have had a lot of media coverage lately. Some companies will do things that no one likes, completely ignore everyones complaints, and then pretend as if everyone was in favor of it the whole time.
More big companies should have an approch like Sun's.
Sigs are out of style, so I'm not going to use one...oh wait..
PHB's with an irrational fear of Free Software can use it to deploy Unix on cheap commodity hardware. I worked for such a PHB once. Like any company, they were somewhat stingy. They were a Solaris shop interested in deploying a number of servers on "cheap x86 hardware".
Originally, they were going to reluctantly deploy onto Linux because cost. However, when the gratis version of Solaris x86 was announced they switched so fast you could have gotten whiplash.
A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
Would this make Linux irrelevant instantaneously?
If we could wrap a scalable, sound, SMP-capable GPL kernel around Debian or Red Hat, would we think twice?
Or what if Sun were to release and maintain free Solaris for Itanium as well as x86? Would that be the kiss of death for HP-UX and AIX 5L? Why do they hesitate?
Granted, the Solaris kernel has weaknesses. UFS has to go. I hate /etc/system, I'd much rather tune on the fly with 2.4. patchchk is what up2date was several years ago. Sun's continued reliance on CDE/ksh/zip to get everything done really makes me ill. Solaris needs to be the UNIX of the 21st century.
What is the possibility of Sun convincing Apple to integrate large portions of Solaris into Mac OS X? Would they be willing to give it away to Apple? Why haven't they done so to build up market share?
I am a Sun stockholder. I would like to see Sun publicly considering these actions. I want to see some bombast from Steve and Bill. If Sun, Apple, and possibly AOL collaberate on an x86-os, they will kill Microsoft.
Sun needs to wake up to the potential of its own power. As it stands, they are difficult to distinguish from roadkill.