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Sun CEO On Razors And Blades

Posted by Zonk on from the sign-up-for-linux dept.

Kadin2048 writes "In an interview with BusinessWeek online, Sun Microsystems CEO Scott McNealy sheds some light on the company's new business model and future direction. In particular, he said that Sun's recent open source moves were part of a new strategy, where 'The software is the razor. The razor blades are the servers.' The move was called a huge risk by BusinessWeek, and it would put Sun at odds with the more traditional Microsoft-esque model with high per-seat or per-server software licensing costs and use commodity PCs and servers, which may not go over well with investors. But after having seen its stock slide and users flee for Linux and Windows, they arguably have little to lose. Perhaps the most interesting development to Slashdot readers is that in an effort to draw new developers to the platform, Sun is offering a deal that seems torn from a cell-phone company playbook: offering a "free" Ultra 20 Opteron workstation if you sign up for a $29.95/mo, 3-year service contract."

4 of 233 comments (clear)

  1. How DARE they do this!!! by Halfbaked+Plan · · Score: 4, Interesting

    It's absolutely indecent, calling something a Sun Ultra 20 that doesn't even have an UltraSparc processor in it. I am tempted to erect a catapult across the road from Sun headquarters and hurl Ultra 5 workstations at them.

    Sun truly is 'going the Carly way' it seems. Stripmining their credibility to 'preserve stock value' for a bit longer.

    --
    resigned
  2. Looks nice -- but there's a whole Opteron Line by putko · · Score: 3, Interesting

    This deal looks neat.

    But Sun has a whole line of Opteron-based computers.

    Does anyone have anything good/bad to say about their entry model, the X2100?

    Here's the review I saw: http://anandtech.com/systems/showdoc.aspx?i=2530

    I like the idea that it is an off-the shelf minimal server.

    --
    http://www.thebricktestament.com/the_law/when_to_s tone_your_children/dt21_18a.html
  3. Servers are the razors also? by xant · · Score: 3, Interesting

    They're giving away the servers *and* the software. I guess it's the service contract that's the razor.

    Given Sun's business acumen the last decade, I expect them to start giving that away too. Not that I'd be happy about that. Competition is good, so competitors shooting themselves in the foot is bad.

    --
    It's rare that you're presented with a knob whose only two positions are Make History and Flee Your Glorious Destiny.
  4. But is Sun hardware good enough? by SEE · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Look, yes, SPARC hardware kicks the crap out of commodity x86, sure. But it's not, as I understand it, nearly that far ahead of IBM POWER hardware. The biggest problem with POWER was that you had to use AIX or Linux, both with definite deficiencies relative to Solaris.

    But now there's OpenSolaris, and OpenSolaris is being ported to IBM RISC hardware at no cost to IBM. IBM will then be able to pick it up, polish it, offer support contracts, and provide you with a complete Solaris-on-quality-RISC solution, without a dime going to Sun.

    I'm not saying it will happen, but it's certainly a reasonable possibility, something Sun should have a plan for in its business case. If IBM starts offering Solaris-on-RISC, how is Sun going to avoid losing market share -- and thus resources for further development -- to IBM? What's its differentiator?

    In short, does Sun actually have a plan? Or is it in "We must do something; this is something; therefore we must do it!" mode?