Jim Grisanzio

Wednesday Dec 22, 2004

Dan Gillmor Talks ... at Microsoft?

As much as I criticize Microsoft, I have a lot of respect for them. How can you not? How can you not recognize their success, right? But I also admit that I just don't understand the company. So closed in so many ways, yet leaders in so many other ways -- such as blogging.

You have to give them credit for this, too, that's for sure: Heather talks about how she attended a Dan Gillmor talk recently on campus. Dan Gillmor? The reporter? He's not exactly known to be the most supportive guy out there regarding Microsoft. I never really followed Gillmor's stuff that closely, but I do remember some pretty tough articles on Microsoft.

Anyway, this got me thinking ... who could we invite to the Sun campus to help stretch our thinking on some issues? We did have Richard Stallman a few years ago come and chat about free software. Which was absolutely fascinating, by the way. But who else? Who do we need to listen to but who is also critical of us? What perspective are we missing?

Dec 22, 2004

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Two Desperate Housewives

You have to love the headline on this article, eh?

"Novell vs. Sun: Two Desperate Housewives"

I love the headline, although I'm not sure the article supports the comparison. No matter. The writer, Jeremy C. Wright, draws the distinctions between Sun and Novell and our strategies. He also has us on some collision courses, too -- one with Linux (of course) and one with "the entire industry."

In fact, Solaris is still incredibly well respected in the Linux world, though many in the industry viewed the product as relegated to old servers or existing Sun clientele. Until Sun decided to set a collision course with Linux by open sourcing Solaris.

The view by executives around the world is simply this: Solaris would be an Open Source derivative of Linux, run by a company they know and trust.

Novell attempted to get into Linux by buying in. Sun, however, is on a collision course with the entire industry -- one many industry insiders are unwilling to concede will be a simple victory for either group.

Not sure about all that, but whatever. The collisions are interesting to me. The best line of the article, though, is this:

Opening the company up to external scrutiny by launching a raft of blogs, for example, is doing more for the company's image than any ad campaign ever could.

Ok, now that I can agree with.

Dec 22, 2004

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Berlind on JDS: $50

Some interesting comments from David Berlind on Sun's Java Desktop System (JDS) and Novell's desktop system:

Look at the contract layers of the offerings from Sun and Novell. For almost the exact same amount of money -- $50 per year -- they deliver almost exactly the same core contract: the Web (Mozilla), a productivity suite (StarOffice or OpenOffice), and e-mail and scheduling (Novell's Ximian Evolution) . What makes JDS interesting, and further drives home the embedded/commodity point, is that JDS delivers precisely the same contract for the same price on its version of Unix (Solaris) as well. This drives the Linux faithful crazy because it makes Sun look like it's vacillating on its Linux strategy -- a myth that many perpetuate -- when it's not. Has Linux taken its toll on Sun? Sure. But, on the desktop, Sun is simply delivering a contract for $50. Take your pick -- Solaris or Linux. Although Sun hopes you'll be pleasantly surprised by the Solaris version, Sun really doesn't care which one you pick and the message is, neither should you. What makes these offerings both interesting and useful is definitely not the OS.

So what does make these offerings interesting? Fascinating read.

Dec 22, 2004

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Torvalds: Solaris is a Joke

Some unfortunate comments from Linus today in a long Q&A with Stephen Shankland at Cnet. Most of his previous statements recently on OpenSolaris have been reasonable. I've been a big supporter of Linux here at Sun, and I have a lot of respect for Linus. So it's difficult hearing some of this from him. Oh, well.

Q: What do you think of what Sun is doing with Solaris 10--technology improvements, open source, and the move to x86 chips?

A: I'm taking a very wait-and-see attitude to Sun. They like talking too much. I'm waiting for the action.

...

Q: It seems to me that they have taken some action besides just grandstanding. They have resurrected the x86 version and added several interesting features--containers, DTrace, and ZFS, for example--that are available today in beta versions of Solaris 10. They're actively rounding up support from developers and software companies. And they announced that the production version of Solaris 10 on x86 will be available for free. What do you think about the x86 move and the new Solaris features?

A: Solaris/x86 is a joke, last I heard. (It has) very little support for any kind of strange hardware. If you thought Linux had issues with driver availability for some things, let's see you try Solaris/x86.

...

Q: When Sun releases Solaris as open-source software, will you take a peek?

A: Probably not. Not because of any animosity, but simply because I don't have the time or the interest. Linux has never been about "others," it's been about getting better than itself, so I don't really have any motivation to play around with Solaris. I'm sure that if it does something particularly well, people will be more than happy to tell me all about it.

...

Q: Surely if you like the idea of standing on the shoulders of giants, there might be some handy ideas in Solaris. Why ignore it?

A: Because I personally don't think they have anything left worth taking after I've applied the general Unix principles. I really do think Linux is the better system by now, in all the ways that matter.

But more importantly, if I'm wrong, that's OK. People who know Solaris better than I do will tell me and other people about the great things they offer. To try to figure it out on my own would be a waste of time.

Dec 22, 2004

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