Last week, I was asked by Forsythe, a Sun iForce partner, to present on Solaris 10 for some mutual customers. Sounds like a normal, boring business trip, right? And since I was supposed to be on vacation this week, I wasn't inclined to go. Until I found out that the presentation would be done at the inaugural Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg (Florida)! My son Ben the car nut and I packed up and flew to Florida on Thursday. Unfortunately he's on spring break and has to be back at school on Monday, so we couldn't stay for the actual race on Sunday. But we did get to see practice and qualifying on Friday. Forsythe is a sponsor of two of the cars on the Andretti-Green racing team: Bryan Herta (#7) and Dario Franchitti (#27). Forsythe had a great suite right above the finish line where we could get a fantastic view not only of the main straightaway but of large portions of the track. Thursday night before the meeting we got to meet Bryan and Dario, had our pictures taken with them and got autographs. Today, Bryan won the pole! How cool is it that Ben has an autographed picture of the pole-sitter? The only cooler thing would be if Bryan or Dario won the race. Well, except for getting pit passes and having our pictures taken with both Michael and Mario Andretti.



Ben and me with Michael Andretti.




Ben and me with Mario Andretti.

I guess we must be good luck: Michael's son Marco won the pole for the Menards Infiniti Pro Series Grand Prix that's being held along with the IRL race and an SCCA race.

[Update: Marco won the race! Dario and Bryan finished third and fourth, part of an Andretti-Green racing team sweep of the top four spots.]

So what does this have to do with Solaris 10, you ask? How about having Forsythe banners all around the track, including near the finish line and on a bridge over the track? You know, like the Firestone or Michelin banners you normally see at races? And guess what they're advertising? That's right: Solaris 10. All over the track. At a car race.



Bryan Herta's car is in front of the banner. Dario Franchitti's car is on the monitor. How's that for timing?

Operating systems don't matter? Solaris doesn't have a community (we're past a million Solaris 10 licenses, you know)? We're quickly obliterating so many of the preconceived notions about Solaris. Watch us run. Just like the Indy cars this week, we're fast, we're precise, and we're making a lot of noise!

Technorati Tag: Solaris