Is Open Source Ready for Prime Time?
Here's a long article on open source that's positive for IBM and
negative for Sun -- "Is
Open Source Ready for Prime
Time?"
David Skok, a general partner with Matrix Partners, and Brian Stevens, vice president of operating systems at Red Hat, are quoted in the piece:
So, IBM has a bright future, and Sun is in trouble. Our Linux servers and JDS desktops notwithstanding, I guess. Whatever. But what's up with the "losing Solaris" part? Solaris is a core competency for Sun, and now we are bringing the platform to Intel and AMD Opteron. We've invested hundreds of millions in the Solaris 10 platform, and I think customers appreciate what's coming their way. I think we'll keep Solaris. Losing it would be idiotic.
Lost? We have? I don't know. I was just talking to some guys from these markets last week, and they still have a bunch of our stuff and are more than a little interested in Solaris 10 and OpenSolaris. Perhaps Mr. Stevens was overstating a bit. I think it's ok to say that other vendors have advanced in these markets, but we certainly have not lost these markets by any stretch of the imagination. We're back now. And we're competing with a new product, a new business model, and an emerging community. May the best system win.
We did get one half hearted complement in the article, but it came with a back handed slap, of course:
Pretty lame. First of all, there are many open source communities, not just one community. Open source is a community of communities. Did IBM join NetBeans with its Eclipse project a few years back? Nope. For whatever reason, they had different business and technical goals for launching Eclipse and received almost no criticism for attacking Sun in the process. IBM deserves credit for their contributions to open source, especially the Linux community. I don't argue what that. But Sun deserves some credit, too, for our involvement in open source and also with Linux. Don't you think that's fair? Second, we believe the OpenSolaris community is already there. We're not starting from scratch here. That two decade installed base of Solaris developers out there will make a very nice open source community, don't you think? The Solaris community deserves to be recognized in its own right -- no matter its size relative to other communities. There's room enough for multiple communities.
So, do we think open source is ready for prime time. Absolutely. We're open sourcing the very core of Sun's entire product line. Our position on this is clear.
No one from Sun was quoted in this article, by the way. Oh, well. Maybe next time.
Technorati Tag: OpenSolaris
David Skok, a general partner with Matrix Partners, and Brian Stevens, vice president of operating systems at Red Hat, are quoted in the piece:
Skok
pointed to IBM as a major company that has harnessed open
source to great benefit. "They've managed to capitalize on Linux. Their
major competitor on hardware used to be Sun, but since Linux, IBM has
been able to thrive and sell a bunch of services and hardware."
Stevens agreed. "It's a fantastic move by IBM," he said.
Sun is a different story, Skok said. "I think Sun's in trouble. They have a very serious problem of a business model that can change, but when it does change it'll be hard for their shareholders. It's Intel economics. Sun has to become an Intel seller; they not only have to lose the Solaris and Sun hardware edge, but they have to compete with Dell."
Stevens agreed. "It's a fantastic move by IBM," he said.
Sun is a different story, Skok said. "I think Sun's in trouble. They have a very serious problem of a business model that can change, but when it does change it'll be hard for their shareholders. It's Intel economics. Sun has to become an Intel seller; they not only have to lose the Solaris and Sun hardware edge, but they have to compete with Dell."
So, IBM has a bright future, and Sun is in trouble. Our Linux servers and JDS desktops notwithstanding, I guess. Whatever. But what's up with the "losing Solaris" part? Solaris is a core competency for Sun, and now we are bringing the platform to Intel and AMD Opteron. We've invested hundreds of millions in the Solaris 10 platform, and I think customers appreciate what's coming their way. I think we'll keep Solaris. Losing it would be idiotic.
Moreover,
"the challenge Sun is going to have is they lost their
top two markets: financial services and telecommunications," Stevens
said.
Lost? We have? I don't know. I was just talking to some guys from these markets last week, and they still have a bunch of our stuff and are more than a little interested in Solaris 10 and OpenSolaris. Perhaps Mr. Stevens was overstating a bit. I think it's ok to say that other vendors have advanced in these markets, but we certainly have not lost these markets by any stretch of the imagination. We're back now. And we're competing with a new product, a new business model, and an emerging community. May the best system win.
We did get one half hearted complement in the article, but it came with a back handed slap, of course:
Stevens
lauded Sun's moves to come back with its recent foray,
"but it's not causing a reverse," he said. "Instead of really joining
the community like IBM has, Sun is trying to create its own developer
community."
Pretty lame. First of all, there are many open source communities, not just one community. Open source is a community of communities. Did IBM join NetBeans with its Eclipse project a few years back? Nope. For whatever reason, they had different business and technical goals for launching Eclipse and received almost no criticism for attacking Sun in the process. IBM deserves credit for their contributions to open source, especially the Linux community. I don't argue what that. But Sun deserves some credit, too, for our involvement in open source and also with Linux. Don't you think that's fair? Second, we believe the OpenSolaris community is already there. We're not starting from scratch here. That two decade installed base of Solaris developers out there will make a very nice open source community, don't you think? The Solaris community deserves to be recognized in its own right -- no matter its size relative to other communities. There's room enough for multiple communities.
So, do we think open source is ready for prime time. Absolutely. We're open sourcing the very core of Sun's entire product line. Our position on this is clear.
No one from Sun was quoted in this article, by the way. Oh, well. Maybe next time.
Technorati Tag: OpenSolaris
Some of these comments are idiotic. Sun has to compete with Dell, but apparently IBM does not?
If x86 hardware is a commodity, the customer value is in the software and service stack. If the software is generally available from any vendor (such as Red Hat Linux and MS Windows), the only differentiator is service. Perhaps IBM has a better service proposition than Dell.
However, in such a market, the vendors of generally available software have a unique value proposition. That is the whole goal behind broadening the Solaris market. If Solaris on x86 gains a reasonable marketshare, Solaris x86 on Sun x86 hardware should have a stronger value proposition than Solaris x86 on Dell x86 hardware.
On a related subject, the IT press, and eWeek in particular, are either are totally incompetent, or have a pro IBM and Red Hat agenda. They quote Red Hat about issue with the CDDL license, but don't delve into the details of how Red Hat has dealt with other non-GPL open source licenses such as the MPL license, from which CDDL is derived.
Does anyone recall Netscape getting raked over the coals for creating the MPL when they released the Netscape Navigator code? Are the various *BSDs constantly slammed for the BSD license? Can anyone find the word "fork" in "The Cathedral and the Bazaar"?
I fail to understand how the zealots in the GNU/Linux community have any credibility or moral high ground left. They are starting to sound like flip-flopping politicians. I am waiting for one of these clowns to say "I was actually for more open source software before I was against it."
Maybe some day an IT press reporter will ask the Red Hats, ESRs, or RMSs of the world "If some open source software is good, is more open source software better?" That is ultimately what this is all about.
Posted by Mark on January 31, 2005 at 08:34 PM JST #