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Sun Rethinking Linux Strategy Over SCO Lawsuit
manyoso writes "Sun is waisting no time taking advantage of the SCO lawsuit against IBM. They are making statements trying to play up Solaris as a safe harbor for worried Linux and IBM users. John Loiacono, VP of Sun's operating platforms group, "For people looking at the issues at hand, we are a safe harbor. We have absolute rights to our technology ... We're changing our strategy around Linux (but) we're pausing because we're trying to figure out what the implications of this are going to be". So, this begs the questions... What are the short term implications for the new Linux based desktop we've been hearing about from our fair weather friends? How will the SCO lawsuit affect Sun's long term strategy with Linux and Open Source?"
This lawsuit doesn't mean a thing in the long term. Either SCO will end up (finally) dead or as a wholly owned subsidiary of IBM. They figured out that selling something available for free didn't work, and now they're about to discover that trying to gouge former customers for license fees doesn't work either. And it's about time.
CEE5210S The signal SIGHUP was received.
When their stock rises 40% on a worthless lawsuit. You just gotta ask yourself, what the hell value did they have before, when worthless adds 40% to them?
It's like David and Goliath - sure, David beat Goliath... once. Who's taking bets that SCO won't be the one killing the giant that is IBM?
Sun had better not gloat too much - they may as well be the next ones on SCO's list of people to sue for making something remotely resembling UNIX.
-Erwos
They have their own Solaris flavour of Unix that they worked so hard on. I don't think anyone's taking this SCO lawsuit that seriously. So I guess perhaps they are taking the chance to downplay Linux and beef up the image of their proprietry Unix.
"Backups are for wimps. Real men upload their data to an FTP site and have everyone else mirror it." -- Linus Torvalds
Unfortunately, these dinosours give us something that we need: Choice. I really don't want to see the whole computer industry to be M$ or RedHat.
You think that I'm crazy, you should see this guy!
Imagine how much harder physics would be if electrons had feelings! -Feynman, maybe
SCO suddenly finds itself high and dry and needs something to shoot at Linux but, with the United Linux uinitiative their diecision is like striking an axe on their own foot or is it a scheme to push united linux way back we used to use sco unix in college i remember. I dont understand is it purely a copyright infringement case or some hidden agenda behind. Sun's once dominant Solaris platform is running thin and thus I guess they do yet dont do yet dont want to enter the Linux bandwagon fully strange but with all HP IBM United Linux I dont know . . . Solaris can not revive itself stiop concentrating on OSs Sun and focus on faster VMs.
But IBM has major cash now and can flex its muscles through this ; Big Blue is hitting back against SCO's charges that it misappropriated Unix trade secrets and used them in Linux.
Sun wishes it was Microsoft. McNealy probably dresses up in Bill Gates clothes when he's at home.
.. they are wrong this will have a big impact.
This plain sucks. Sun is selling us out without even owning us.
Don't underestimate the gravity of this move by Sun. This is a MAJOR blow to linux, because Sun holds large clout with big companies who worry about Linux's stability and support issues.
Further, most people think this SCO thing will have no effect on Linux's adoption
Something to think about as we're doing nothing.
From Sun: We're changing our strategy around Linux (but) we're pausing because we're trying to figure out what the implications of this are going to be.
From where I stand, the implication of you pausing is that you're embarassing yourself worse than SCO. I'd never buy a product from a company scared that SCO will somehow take IBM for $1Billion, or somehow stop Linux development.
At least we can understand that the lawsuit is SCO gasping its dying breath. Sun just looks stupid.
...so I can say this: SCO are absolute motherfuckers.
OK, but think about this: If a company started using GPL code in a closed-source way, the Slashbots would be up in arms about it. Why then, are we so outraged at the mere idea that SCO might also seek to protect its licenced code?
Sun's big contribution to Linux is OpenOffice. Their efforts on Linux proper have been pretty limited anyway.
Honestly, though, I don't think will effect their Linux strategy either. It's just a short-term marketing/PR stunt.
Despite what they say, I really doubt that Sun thinks they can keep people on Solaris long-term. They're just not that dumb. More likely they're trying to keep customers from defecting for a few years while they work on improving the upper layers of their environment (Java, SunONE). Then they can switch the bottom layer to Linux but keep some proprietary advantages.
It is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail. - Abraham Maslow
"We bought our Unix license out....We are unencumbered for all things," including Sun's version of Linux, he said.
How is does that quote imply they're a fair-weather friend?
The headline quotes "has a impact on Sun's shifting linux strategies". Since it doesn't give a lot of context it's a bit hard to know exactly what is ment by that. What happened is that days before it was anounced that Sun is considering striking up partnerships with mainstream Linux sellers such as Red Hat and SuSE (dated march 6). However a day later (march 7), the news breaks that The suit could affect SCO's relationship with Linux seller SuSE, whose version of Linux is the foundation of the UnitedLinux products SCO uses. Plus ofcource the posible implications for Linux patent violations at large such as forinstance the ELF binary format (SCO claims its a derivative of COFF), and other area's of linux..
Thus sun is in the mess that they decided to investigate how and if they should dive into the linux pool, but the day that news breaks, the pilar of their company (Unix servers, OS, etc) and the company they licence rights to use this from gets into a fight with linux and their bigest threat in the large-server-space.
It's gotta be shitty to be Sun to be in that position, they can't really afford to alianate either camp (openoffice, gnome2 and mozilla are contributed to or owned by them and linux seems to be a way to go for the future) but their current income comes largely from selling & maintaining large servers and they can not afford to give out the slightest impression that that market could be in any trouble, because customers buy them for the 'five nines' dream (99.999% availability)
To deep in either way to get out.. they'll have to do a switcherland if you ask me
Wow, that's news to me. It seems like Sun is playing with Linux like Microsoft is playing with open standards. It's all lip service IMHO.
This is SCO's last deep breath before the long sleep. Sun and Microsoft will also learn that you must move or get out of the way when a disruptive market mover is coming. IMO.
LoB
"Anyone who stands out in the middle of a road looks like roadkill to me." --Linus
Well, I'm looking at this as a good thing.
If SCO actually had a leg to stand on, I'd feel differently. But since this is a cross-court buzzer throw at the basket, I'm not too worried.
Notes From Under *nix: blas.phemo.us
NO WHERE in the article did they say they were stopping Linux support.
The original poster of this article makes it sound like Sun's just going to drop everything now that the lawsuit is happening to other folks, and THAT IS NOT WHAT THE ARTICLE SAYS.
(rolling eyes)
Microsoft are incompetent bullies, not evil geniuses. Heck, they can't even implement 64Bit Windows in a timely manner and will lose a lot of their server marketshare in the 32->64 Bit conversion.
Both SCO and Sun feel the heat from Linux. If this pointless suit gives Sun the opportunity to market their expensive hardware, why shouldn't Sun take that opportunity?
Usually the easy explanation is the right one.
Anyway, Sun certainly will not stop selling Linux machines, too and in 2 months this suit will be forgotten anyway.
I don't think this neccesarily has to be some sort of MSFT scheme.
If it is, Gates, Ballmer, and their entire legal department are far more incompetent than I had thought. Consider the following:
1: Microsoft licensed UNIX back in the day and produced Xenix. They then sold this to Santa Clara Operations (SCO). I would be *highly* surprised if *none* of the original Xenix engineers are still at Microsoft. So this suit could affect them too. And Caldera/SCO has a history of sueing Microsoft.
2: This whole thing is extremely bad for Shared Source. It may be bad for Open Source if it wins, but it would be far far worse for shared source.
Great business model, isn't it? You don't need to make a profit selling anything, just sue those who do.
Have you actually talked to the Caldera sales reps? They are either clueless about the licensing of RedHat or SuSE.
The business model of SCO seems to be based on an idea that since proprietary software is the most common way of developing corporate software today, that Linux should be put into that box. They think that customers need support and don't need the flexibility that open source offers.
In this view the GPL is bad, and Randsom Love's comments to this effect make sense. But it ignores the reason *why* open source is gaining in many markets-- becuase if I run a network, I can roll out a pilot database server using Linux and PostgreSQL with no licensing overhead. Sure, I will have to get approval for the hardware, but that is it (assuming the improbable, that the management understands the licensing). It is the flexibility that this sort fo thing offers a company that is important. If I want I can deploy now, test now, and then get support when I am ready to make it official.
So Caldera is not happy with the GPL, is not focused (as I think RedHat and SuSE are) on helping companies *use* linux. They are instead trying to sell it like NT.
LedgerSMB: Open source Accounting/ERP
Unfortunately, these dinosours give us something that we need: Choice. I really don't want to see the whole computer industry to be M$ or RedHat.
At this time, you are correct.
My suspicion however, is that we will eventually see all proprietary UNIX's fall to Linux, and while RedHat is the market leader today, there is still Slackware, and Debian is not going away any time soon.
I also suspect that the domination of the market by Linux will also benefit *BSD as well. One of the issues is that choice is needed as you point out, but while the proprietary OS's are still in control, the big companies are unwilling to contribute code to FreeBSD because they are essentially subsidizing the proprietary software fo their competitors. So in Today's market, the GPL makes the most sense for operating systems, but that could change, and BSD license could be important as well.
Remember that when Apache was first developed, the market was dominated by two public domain web servers (CERN and NCSA). The BSD-like license of Apache is not a problem because the market share of open source and public domain comptetitors more or less was locking out higher-priced proprietary competitors. Even today Microsoft's "free" IIS is unable to get more than about 20% market share.
So I don't think that choice will go away. It will just change.
And yes, I think that proprietary UNIX is dying with the exception of a few specialized markets.
LedgerSMB: Open source Accounting/ERP
You clearly base your decisions on the relevant merits of different products and companies. You won't buy Sun because of a line in an article on CNET that, er, tells us practically nothing. What exactly are your purchasing criteria?
"So anyway the media tells people to pull their money out of the stock market, and you know how much Americans love their TV."
People pulled their money out of the stock market because they realized that their stocks weren't even worth the paper it was printed in.
"If our companies were focused on developing technology we might be able to recover. But that would probably require kicking the entire administration out of office so we weren't being constantly distracted by Bushy Baby throwing his temper tantrum about Iraq."
Give me a break. The economy always has been like a rollercoaster. It goes up and down like a wave. There are reasons why you cannot have unlimited growth in the economy. Consider taking courses in economics before lecturing on us about it.
"Japan already built a faster supercomputer that models global climate instead of nuclear blasts like the US."
Isn't Japan a capitalist like the US? And I suppose US should resort to real nuclear blasts instead of using computers? Oh I get it, US should destory all of its nukes because countries like China will destory their own nukes? Dream on.
"The US may have resources, but its entire economy is based on personal greed and the desire to horde those resources rather than distribute them to those that need them. In time this becomes extremely inefficient and will only seriously hurt the economy."
Greed is universal. Why do you think that many people full for Nigerian 419 scam? And tell me why the communist party members live in a better house, get more food, and driver nicer cars then the rest of the population? You failed to mention competion as a strong motivator. No one would attend sporting events if the outcomes were always a tie. Competion isn't just for sports either. How about people working on open source software? Do they not compete with other teams?
"China has how many billion people? That's billions of bright minds capable of creating software, hardware, and many other things us Americans can't even learn in school because our school system would rather pay Microsoft than teach us real technology, like Linux. Because its too hard."
That's funny cause two colleges I've attended both offers Linux classes. Besides, if you are a competent Windows user, there's no reason why you can't learn Linux on your own. And why are people in China priating Windows when they can use Linux?
"It feels good to me knowing that the war between communism and capitalism has not yet been won. Capitalists celebrated a premature victory when the USSR collapsed. Industrial automation, computerized automation, robotic automation, these things changed everything."
Compare Hong Kong to the mainland China. If capitalism is such a failure, why is China maintaining Hong Kong under a diffent system? And why is mainland China itself becoming more capitalistic? Automation was adapted by the capitalists because it is more efficent. And I don't see any communists having problems "borrowing" technology from the capitalists.
"Personally I'd rather work in a world that didn't have money than in America where all my friends lost their homes and jobs because of money."
How are you supposed to buy a house without money? Oh wait, you mean everyone will be given one? Who will build these free houses? How about people who are druggies and/or too lazy to work (I know plenty of them)?Won't it be shitty to break sweat and your back to build free houses for those people? And you really believe that people will be motivated to go though 8 years of schooling to be a doctor just to live next door to a high-school dropout that spends all day smoking pot? There is a reason why a true communism can't exist.
1f u c4n r34d th1s u r34lly n33d t0 g37 l41d
If we just look at StarOffice, the cost of buying, rengineering then forking it over to OpenOffice is huge in and of itself. Even if they did keep part of the changes to themselves. A sophisticated Office suite that is compatible with MS Office products is what Linux needed as a shot in the arm for wider desktop acceptability. This alone is a major contribution.
In addition Sun has hundreds of people working Gnome, Mozilla, JXTA, Tomcat, Netbeans (Another bought and open sourced project), Grid Engine and more.
They're damn chip architecture is open, available for free without royalties. The have shared source Java and working to open source it.
Sun has the most popular Unix package around, they have been in this space for decades. Linux can benefit plenty from Sun and Sun is becoming more and more willing to help.
The only backstabbers I see are you people that go off attacking Sun after reading something that's been misquoted.
Open Source Java DAO Generator
It hurt FreeBSD and BSDI alot.
If the lawsuit never came to be its possible that slashdot would of been hosted on FreeBSD rather then Linux. Also FreeBSD or Netbsd might of had more marketshare then Linux or linux might not of even existed at all.
I heard of FreeBSD and BSD/OS long before Linux. I remember reading about bsdi bsd/os advertised in a bulletin board magazine as the ultimate bbs os before the www became popular. I also remember browsing the web with Mosiac and Netscape 2.x in 95 and 96 and seeing the "served by FreeBSD" logo. The first 2 versions of FreeBSD actually had real unix code in it and was the old standard 4.4 bsd os. It was only years later that I heard of Linux.
Many people were skeptical of BSD-lite and assumed it was inferior because it had the word "lite" in it. Linux was also invented because the distribution of the net/2 berkeley tapes could no longer be distributed.
I hope Linux is not damaged to much like BSD was with this lawsuit.
http://saveie6.com/