Why Sun needs to enter the PC market? Let’s first examine several companies in the market today:Digital Equipment – Digital was mostly a server company. At one time it was the 2nd largest computer company in the world. DEC strayed away from the consumer market when it emerged and was eventually taken over by Compaq.
Silicon Graphics – SGI was first concentrated in the server and graphics market, only to stray away from that too. They never made a big
push into the consumer desktop market. SGI used to trade around $50 per share, now it’s trading at around 1.80 per share.
Hewlett-Packard – HP has been bullish in the server and consumer market and thus it’s the #2 server company in the world. The only confusion
that HP has presented is when they acquired Compaq. Now HP is having to deal with supporting multiple architectures (including HP’s own PA-RISC and DEC’s Alpha) and migrating off of them onto Intel/HP’s Itanium processor. Server shipments are now dropping at HP due to the lack of commitment to PA-RISC and Alpha Systems. HP has also not been agressively advertising their server models.
Compaq – Compaq had success in the server and desktop market, mainly after they acquired Digital. They were eventually bought out by Compaq. The bad part about Compaq is probably some of the quality of their desktops and/or senior management running the company at the end of it’s lifetime.
International Business Machines – IBM created the first personal computer. They have been bullish in every single computer market. They are and have been very successful. IBM is currently the #1 computer company in the world.
Sun Microsystems- Sun has always been just a server company but has recently made a push to become a major software player as Jonathon Schwartz became COO. Sun has made little or no effort to enter the consumer desktop market. The little effort they had failed due to horrible marketing.
Fujitsu – Fujitsu has had success in the server and consumer market. They have entered the consumer and server market and has even created a line up that successfully rivals Sun’s SPARC servers and x86 servers before sun emphasized on them.
Gateway – Gateway is making headway in the server market, usually only being a consumer desktop maker. The company is now turning itself around with a newer sever line up.
Dell – Dell has long been called a company that tends to observe the markets and copy off the successful competitors rather than doing it’s own research. They’re tactics have paid off while they now start to do research more. They have successfully come to compete with industry leaders including HP which has strong consumer computer systems market share. Dell always watches to see what is successful before they start competing.
Apple – Apple seems to be only successful under Steve Jobs’ leadership. They created the PDA market, only after deserting it. They are the most successful Mp3 player maker. And although their desktop market share is dropping (due to the concentration on other products and lack of marketing) they are making headway in the server market. Apple’s Xservers are gaining market share greatly since the introduction of the 64-bit G5 Server. Apple’s servers have usually been overshadowed by IBM’s 64-bit PowerPC Compatible servers that outperform Apple’s.
—————————————————————————–
Overview:
—————————————————————————–
[Success] [Consumer Desktop] [Electronics] [Workstations] [Servers] [High-end Servers] Hewlett-Packard
[Success] [Consumer Desktop] [Electronics] [Software] [Workstations] [Servers] [High-end Servers] International Business Machine
[Success] [Software] [Workstations] [Servers] [High-end Servers] Sun Microsystems
[Success] [Consumer Desktop] [Electronics] [Workstations] [Servers] [High-end Servers] Fujitsu
[Success] [Consumer Desktop] [Electronics] [Workstations] [Servers] Gateway
[Success] [Consumer Desktop] [Electronics] [Workstations] [Servers] Dell
[Success] [Consumer Desktop] [Electronics] [Software] [Workstations] [Servers] Apple
——————————————————————————
[Failed] [Software] [Workstations] [Servers] [High-end Servers] Digital
[Failing] [Workstations] [Servers] [High-end Servers] Silicon Graphics
[Failed] [Consumer Desktop] [Electronics] [Software] [Workstations] [Servers] [High-end Servers] Compaq
——————————————————————————
WHAT LOOKS OUT OF PLACE?
As you can see above, what looks out of place? Sun Microsystems. They are lacking basic consumer computer electronics (printers, mp3 players, etc) and consumer desktops. Sun’s main rivals (which include IBM, HP, Dell) all have strong showing in the consumer computer market. In fact, when one purchases a server one is more likely to purchase one from a company that also makes their desktop.
Sun has recently made a push into the consumer desktop software market. Is this a sign that they may enter the consumer desktop market? It’s hard to tell since most desktop software makers have never been Sun’s main competitor’s in the hardware market. This may be a sign that sun may never enter the market and their long-term server selling abilities may be weekend by Sun’s ever increasing concentration on the software market.
It’s important to follow Dell this time Sun. It appears that Dell is now going to overtake Sun in server shipments and make Sun the fourth largest server maker, mainly fueled by low end Linux servers. Sun’s low end x86 server push may be dampened by Dell’s superiority in the desktop market.
SOLUTION
Sun’s solutions to the growing needs of it’s company has always been to purchase other companies. They have been very successful at doing that. They have done this to roll out high volume products in a short period of time so that their stock prices do not suffer due to such growing demands. I suggest that sun should purchase a consumer desktop computer company that incorporate that into the Sun brand name.
MARKETING
Sun has lacked greatly in marketing, and as history has shown if a company does not aggressively market their products and services, all of them, then they fail. Sun needs to market the software, servers, and possibly a low-end desktop line up aggressively and effectively. Sun has copied off of AMD’s web marketing tactics which have been proven very successful to both companies but I believe it’s not enough. Sun’s main competitors market anyway possible such as television, websites, magazines, etc. Sun needs to spend even more money to advertise their products and services not just advertising web casts. Sun’s tactic of advertising company events like online launch events have proven to be very successful in getting their user base and others more involved in the company’s ongoing activities, making the company seem more personal and open.
If you would like to see your thoughts or experiences with technology published, please consider writing an article for OSNews.
Compaq – Compaq had success in the server and desktop market, mainly after they acquired Digital. They were eventually bought out by Compaq. The bad part about Compaq is probably some of the quality of their desktops and/or senior management running the company at the end of it’s lifetime.
I didn’t know Compaq could buy themselves. Almost as funny as the talking silicon chips from an article on another site a few months back.
IBM is the #3 PC company and it’s getting out of the business to focus on services. Yes, it’s selling / joint-venturing it’s entire PC business to some Chinese company.
So why would Sun want to join in the commodity arena? Please, this is insane. Wal-mart sells PCs for heaven’s sake.
PCs are commodities. It’s time to get out unless you’re a mass-market retailer prepared to put up with the vagaries of the idiot consumer.
and then ship the new sun pc desktops with their brand new supurb linux java desktop or something???
im not sure if people are buying that, they will be afraid it is not compatible with their previous wintel pc…
uuuh… i don’t think that will work out for sun, why do you think IBM just left the desktop pc market? it isnt easy and just like IBM, SUN is focusing on their services, their solutions for companies. not and end user, that is either buying wintel or macintosh nowadays.
The IBM rumor is just that, rumor…
Speaking of rumor, they may be getting out to get back in:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/12/06/ibm_apple_speculation/
PC business :b
“and then ship the new sun pc desktops with their brand new supurb linux java desktop or something???”
StarOffice, partnering to get better windows support for Java and StarOffice.
It appears they have been gearing up to do just that:
http://news.com.com/Sun+and+Microsoft+So+far%2C+so+good/2100-10…
I’m not saying this op-ed is what’s going to happen. But it isn’t so far off considering some of the latest news/rumors.
dont base your stuff on mere speculations
WalMart looks like it’s in the best shape to kick some ass in the PC area.
This is actually a pretty terrible idea for Sun. They make loads more off of each server sale than they EVER could off of selling low end, commidity PCs. Dell is the market leader and they make very little, if any, profit off of individual PCs. They get their profit from addons, software, etc. that they mark up. They sell on volume and there is very little a new company could do to get in and be competitive here at this late in the game.
Hell, Walmart, the true jugernaught, is selling PCs. They’ve pledged to majorly enlarge their electronics departments. They’re already the #1 retailer and grocery store in the world. How long do you think till they’re the #1 electronics distributor?
No, Sun should stick to their workstation and server lines. If they keep revamping and innovating there (Their new Niagra processors look to be hot hot, not in temperature terms) then they can turn the company around. Their focus on Solaris 10 and partnership with AMD can also be a winning combination.
<<Sun’s main rivals (which include IBM, HP, Dell) all have strong showing in the consumer computer market. In fact, when one purchases a server one is more likely to purchase one from a company that also makes their desktop.>>
First, IBM is NOT strong in the consumer market[0]. Second, are you implying that the demographic in the consumer market are buying servers?!? Do you know what the consumer market is?
<< I suggest that sun should purchase a consumer desktop computer company that incorporate that into the Sun brand name.>>
Why? Brand recognition isnt going to help Sun. Apple’s presense in the consumer market is huge but that hasent helped them sell more MacOSX servers.
[0] Consumer market – All the individuals and households who buy or acquire goods and services for personal consumption.
Almost no one can compete in the Windows x86 arena. Della, gateway and HP are fiercely competing, another seller would not work.
What works from there on, is the niche market. So who are the niche players? Apple comes to mind, SGI comes to mind, Sun comes to mind.
Sun *is* a niche player, the *do* have non server computers. Here are Sun’s workstations: http://www.sun.com/desktop/products/ws.html
Go ahead and buy one
Sun does not need to enter the PC arena because they are already in them. Workstations/client computers are more or less Personal Computers (PCs)
mini-me
“How long do you think till they’re the #1 electronics distributor?”
Not long. They have already surpassed Circuit City, which had been #2 for a long time. Currently, Best Buy has about twice the electronics sales volume that Walmart has, but that is rapidly dwindling. I would bet that within 5-7 years, Walmart will have surpassed Best Buy as well, as far as sheer volume goes.
Sun would rather make inroads into companies as an OS company, selling JES for the server backend and JDS for the desktops. Once this has happened and they have implemented a complete enterprise server and desktop package, they can begin pitching Sunray.
Sun is still firmly committed to their “The Network Is The Computer” concept. By using Sunray + JES, they can simply upgrade the server backends as they need more power while all the Sunray desktops stay the same.
For those who have never used one, Sunray networks can allow for a whole new type of office computing. No longer is everything about you tied to a single machine, simply insert your SmartCard and there’s your session, just like you left it before. You can do this with any Sunray on the network, and when you’re done, simply pull your SmartCard out. No passwords. No need for an IT department to deal with problems on a system-by-system basis, as opposed to Windows networks where you need a few dozen MCSE monkeys to keep everything running. No need to worry about important files being on a different computer and having to transfer them.
I think the PC business as we know it is at an end — so does IBM. The virus threat is getting too much for consumers and businesses to take. Specialized boxes probably running linux are going to rise from the Wintel PC ashes. In 5 years PC desktops as we know them will be geek boxes. I spend a lot of my time bailing out businesses from the latest attacks.
BTW Sun started as a workstation company. The servers were enablers for the dishless workstations. Sun is back in the workstation business in a big way with their Opteron line. Stay tuned, Andy was the original WS guru and he is back on board.
The world will be ruled by appliances and servecs — take my word for it. Get your HP stereo today, or your SFF PC from Shuttle and your phone enabled braodband browser soon. Services are the wave of the future.
So closed hardware is the way to go???
I think not. Also remember that embedded devices have also been on the receiving end of viruses and other attacks as well as PC’s. Personal Computers allow people to do too much and there is a generation that has grown up with them. Do you honestly think they are going to allow their power to decrease?
Not bloody likely.
@ Anonymous (IP: 219.64.133.—)
Don’t take me to seriously, after all I put the :b emoticon in my post to show that I am kidding.
I must admit that I didn’t write the best article and I even e-mailed Eugenia saying it before it went live.
I stand by what I said, It would be retarded for IBM to leave the PC market. They invented the PC market. Some good company they are… the last thing we need is cheap 3rd world PCs made by some 3rd world company that can make them so cheap usa companies would have problems competiting. not to mention the chinese gov’t owns a lot of that company. .and the gov’t has a tighter grip on the value of the currency (which is wrong in my opinion)…. this is all my opinion. IBM’s major problem is they don’t advertise and push their PC line like they push their server line.
If a company sees libraries and schools full of IBM PCs do you think they would rather buy an IBM or Gateway server?
Buying out a PC company would expand sun in the retail store world.. They could push their software into stores much more easily assuming the company they could buy out is a vendor to a lot of shops. This was one of the reasons Novell purchased SuSE actually.
I think it shows that since there is absolutely no server company that has been successful selling just servers that sun should consider that..Sun just now reached a tiny profit.. But do you think sun would be that right? I doub it. They are stubborn people. They have been doing extremely well considering how they are can’t market their products that well. Regarding SPARC.. Sun should copy off how IBM is promoting 3rd part products based on PPC.
Sun is full of bright people and talented employees. Their stubbornness can hurt them.
theres a red over my head
I’m not sure if I would say IBM created the first Personal Computer… the way I read computing history is that their mainframe business translated into businesses trusting them when they moved to Personal Computers, and then everyone wanting to copy them because their success in the business market meant a market for cheaper clones, and consumers wanting compatible stuff at home.
As for the rest of it… no, I can’t see anyone beating Dell at their own game. I wish someone would because their Inspiron 8×00 series laptops are amazingly flaky.
I still hope that Wal-mart doesn’t beat out Dell, though.
The idea that Sun would get into PC business now if ironic, since Sun has been promoting the idea of “network appliances” for many years now. I think we are within 3 to 5 years of network appliances being a solid solution for both home users and business users. Since it would take over a year to get into the PC business…well the numbers just don’t add up to a profit. Sun should bid its time an be ready with best of breed when “network appliances” start to take off.
MS knows that network appliances are on there way and they have been adding features to .NET framework that will support this. You want an unholy alliance that could kick butt? Try combining the ideas/features of Sun’s network appliances (e.g. Sun Ray) and the concepts of .NET from Novell. I know these guys like to bicker, but really they could do a lot to defuse the strategies of both MS and IBM if they took a lead on this. Sun should fully support Mono and use the core ideas of remoting and Avalon (not necessarily the same API, maybe use a remoting w/ Gtk# and some improved version of Glade vs XAML). Sun+Solaris+hardware and Novell+Linux+Mono and looking at some of the WYSE WinTerms for ideas – combine it all into a well thought out solution – it could be pretty neat.
Anyway, PC market is drained. Soon the profit margins on PC sales will be too low too make them an instant sales booster.
they pretty much invented the modern version. they invented the hard drive and created the widespread design.
PC market is not that drained–if you have big bucks to get your products to shops and to market it–several companies are still very successful at this.
Sun has done horrible in promoting their technologies, their ‘visions’. Their sunrays and so on are great for networks. I’m just talking about a PC for a home. Sun has great technologies for networks but still they haven’t properly marketed it..
But what is the truth in this article?
What in the article helps anybody?
If you don’t know Sun, Sun’s products and Sun’s customers, you should not write an article about Sun….
If you have no clue, you should ask other people to write
articles.
“Regarding SPARC.. Sun should copy off how IBM is promoting 3rd part products based on PPC.”
Actually, you can join the SPARC group and license the technology exactly the same as IBM currently has it setup. Most processor designs are that way, except for possibly AMD/Intel but their processors make poor imbeded designs for heat/power reasons.
“I stand by what I said, It would be retarded for IBM to leave the PC market. They invented the PC market. Some good company they are”
Actually, its not retarded – its in IBMs best interests. They’re repositioning themselves to be a service based company, not a hardware based. Like I’ve said before, there is little to no profit to be made from selling home computers (except possibly laptops but that won’t last much longer either). The margins are extremely low and small, government supported and funded companies in the East will eventually drive companies like Dell, Gateway, et al out of the dominant market. With Walmart quickly growing in its distrubition size in terms of electronics, it won’t take long. No, IBM is just being smart and playing to their strengths. R&D, services & support, and mid-high end servers and mainframes.
“the last thing we need is cheap 3rd world PCs made by some 3rd world company that can make them so cheap usa companies would have problems competiting.”
Ummm, I hate to burst your bubble but this is already happening. Where do you think all the components are made? Not in America. Where do you think the majority of the construction is done? Not in America. Where do you think the support comes from? Not America. Frankly, the only thing America really contributes anymore is software and design and we’re quickly being marganialized there as well. NOT because of government control, but rather because of our shitty educational system.
Kids would rather play with their cell phones or watch the latest Janet Jackson boobie scandel than learn mathmatics or science.
Its always refreshing to an alternative perspective on the way that the “Big Boys” run their businesses, however, one as poorly argued as this should not have made its way onto a major news site, such as osnews. The entire article is based upon a definitionless, annecdotally argued correlation. The term “Consumer Market” has not been defined, to my mind ibm doesn’t do business there. The article is based upon a correlation, with no real reasoning offered as to why lack of consumer market entry would affect server sales. (The author offers a suggestion that people are more willing to buy servers and workstations if they own consumer models by the company, seemingly ignorning the fact that servers are bought by IT purchasing departments, not consumers!) The article thus offers no real insite into the market. This is a shame, since some of the points offered appear to be of interest, and the author clearly has some intelligence. Please, please, please high quality editorials are what I find most difficult to find online and osnews is always trying, sometimes for better, sometimes for worse. Hope you have better luck in future finding an article.
“government supported and funded companies in the East will eventually drive companies like Dell, Gateway, et al out of the dominant market.”
Not if those companies stand their ground. A lot of american companies produce PCs in countries like that and ship them here.
I wouldn’t consider some of the major computer making countries in asia as 3rd world (right now). Besides, USA companies usually outsource to make the parts in those countries. Eventually everything will balance out and we’ll have a global economy (or so says the whitehouse).
“Kids would rather play with their cell phones or watch the latest Janet Jackson boobie scandel than learn mathmatics or science. ”
Agreed.
“SPARC group and license the technology exactly the same as IBM currently has it setup. ”
I still believe SPARC is more open than PowerPC… I think there are certain restrictions on licensing PowerPC that make it less open than SPARC. I could be wrong.
“government supported and funded companies in the East will eventually drive companies like Dell, Gateway, et al out of the dominant market.”
Not if those companies stand their ground. A lot of american companies produce PCs in countries like that and ship them here.
I wouldn’t consider some of the major computer making countries in asia as 3rd world (right now). Besides, USA companies usually outsource to make the parts in those countries. Eventually everything will balance out and we’ll have a global economy (or so says the whitehouse).
“Kids would rather play with their cell phones or watch the latest Janet Jackson boobie scandel than learn mathmatics or science. ”
Agreed.
“SPARC group and license the technology exactly the same as IBM currently has it setup. ”
I still believe SPARC is more open than PowerPC… I think there are certain restrictions on licensing PowerPC that make it less open than SPARC. I could be wrong.
The PC is a commodity industry and for anyone wanting to buy a Voodoo or Falcon….they can go to Voodoo or Falcon. Or Dell. Or HP. Or any of the dozen firms pushing high end PCs beside their midrange stuff.
Sun can’t even hold the market in midrange SERVERS…why would they want to go into low end DESKTOPS?
Sometimes it must be said, this is a dumb idea.
“government supported and funded companies in the East will eventually drive companies like Dell, Gateway, et al out of the dominant market.”
Not if those companies stand their ground. A lot of american companies produce PCs in countries like that and ship them here.
I wouldn’t consider some of the major computer making countries in asia as 3rd world (right now). Besides, USA companies usually outsource to make the parts in those countries. Eventually everything will balance out and we’ll have a global economy (or so says the whitehouse).
“Kids would rather play with their cell phones or watch the latest Janet Jackson boobie scandel than learn mathmatics or science. ”
Agreed.
“SPARC group and license the technology exactly the same as IBM currently has it setup. ”
I still believe SPARC is more open than PowerPC… I think there are certain restrictions on licensing PowerPC that make it less open than SPARC. I could be wrong.
This is like saying, “Hey, Ferrari doesn’t sell enough cars… They really need to start building $15,000 120hp 4-cyl cars that get 30 miles to the gallon for the average automobile consumer! Then they’ll be able to attract those poor college kids to their $600,000 Enzo model!”
It’s called comparitive advantage… pick a market segment, focus the skills, talents, and resources of your company on that market segment and be the best at it, especially if you’re in a busines that requires a lot of research and development to innovate more than your competitors.
You don’t have to take over the world to be a successful, profitable company. Why do you think Microsoft has never really bothered to make their own PC boxes?
One cannot define in accurace why a corporation failed or succeed on a specific market or not by using 3 sentences. It takes a whole damn lot more than that alone, including references, time aspect, competitive aspect. Heck, you could write a book about 1 corporation on a narrow timeframe alone! Thats the other extreme, but the way it was done here makes no sense at all.
this stupid… I’ve read this site for quite some time, however if osnews can’t raise the bar as to the quality of the content, I’ll have to stop bothering to read it.
at this point PC’s have become a commodity and the market has become over taken by companies that specialize in only delivering low end products. Sun Microsystems is NOT a low end company and entering into such a market would only needlessly distract Sun from it’s larger goals in the high end market…
Sun’s main rivals (which include IBM, HP, Dell) all have strong showing in the consumer computer market. In fact, when one purchases a server one is more likely to purchase one from a company that also makes their desktop
I absolutely agree. PC is a volumes game. Whoever sells the most units takes the market share, and becomes “King of the PC hill”. And IT generally like to buy from the same vendor — “standardization” is their constant goal and even obsession. I know first hand.
However, PC is yesterday’s war. Notice that some PC market share leaders themselves are moving beyond the “box” now — Dell, Gateway, HP are all jumping into media PC and consumer electronics. Microsoft moved into game console and embedded business.
There has been a shifting trend in tech buying patterns, as many have pointed out. Home consumers move from desktops to notebooks (for one thing, it saves lots of space). And PC market is maturing and becoming a replacement market — and I for one am happy that I have finally gotten a much faster new computer in place of my old slow PC — yes!
Sun has been “testing some waters” in other markets, it seems, since new markets obviously involve risk. One of those ventures — embedded — I think is a good area. Solaris already has real-time, so it is already “half way” there.
What sun is behind the competition in that space is more multimedia support and optimized bandwidth for multimedia. Windows obviously has, well, virtually <u>every</u> vendor’s support. Apple Powermac G5 seems to have optimized, but Mac OS X lacks full real-time. I haven’t heard that Sun has optimized high bandwidth for multimedia. Maybe someone has some info about that?
Windows and Linux tend to get more audio/video support, for example, for DVD players, airport kiosks and security facial recognitions, robotics, and what have you. But I think Solaris might get more support, if Sun promotes that market enough. I think Sun has already started in the right direction.
By the way, Dell leads market share because it has the most user-friendly and informative e-commmerce web site, and it gives you a good array of selections, and the “most bang for the buck” and good repetition for reliable quality (though it seems to be getting a little pricey compared to the competitions lately). (I know, ’cause that’s why I got one before
Sun’s online shopping site has fewer selections, but it is no slouch. It is convenient and easy to use — look out, Dell.
You forgot E-Machine, which consequently purchased Gateway Computers over a year ago. If you look at the software that comes on Gateways now, it all the E-Machine Big Fix crap. Even the Gateway website is converted to the E-Machine style. As a former employee of the big cow. I’m disgusted.
In terms of Sun, you’re absolutely insane. The desktop market is a horrible one for any company that does not have, not only a solid customer base, but a solid support base, to stay afloat in. To the average consumer, the name Sun Microsystems doesn’t mean jack or shit. Even if they merged with a company like Apple, IBM or Sony, in terms of their desktop markets, they’d still be tarnishing their good name to those who have relied on the Sun brand for so long. Unfortunately to succeed in the desktop world right now means you have to produce $500-600 machines. Not their thing.
Oh and IBM hasn’t had a cunsumer line of products in almost two years. They’re desktop line is purely a business line. Not to say anyone can’t get one, they’re just more highly supported, need to be special ordered and generally cost more money than your normal desktop.
As a supposed former employee you could at least get your facts right. Gateway aquired e-machines.
In early 2004, the company acquired eMachines, one of the world’s fastest growing and most efficient PC makers.
http://www.gateway.com/about/news_info/company_background.shtml
Getting into the Wintel clone market would leave SUN without any brand name recognition (as they are known as a server and workstation manufacturer, not in consumer space), without being able to use any of there expertise in OS design (as they would have to license Windows as that is what is expected in this market), or chip design (as x86 is also expect, to run standard windows shrink wrapped Windows software).
The commodity PC mass market is saturated, with most of the major players operating on waffer thin margins. In fact Gartner (OK not exactly the best source I know) has stated that they expect several players to leave soon, the rumours being that one of them will be IBM. Business is not about domination, it’s about profit. You do not have to destroy everyone else to make a profit, these can be made perfectly well within a niche market. Look at Apple or Alienware for examples.
@ timh – rack64.com
American companies will not stand together, remember they are legally required not extract the maximum shareholder value. If that means becoming marketing shells operating from a tax haven, with all the manufacturing in some far eastern country with very low wages and not much idea about human rights then that is what they are going to do.
Closed hardware is OK — most hardware is disposable these days, and likely to become moreso in the future. One of the unique things that the *nixes do is eliminate the hardware from the equation. You buy what you want — or what you percieve as cool.
Too many techies think everyone cares about closed hardware, they don’t, they care about what they can do with their box. Is Intel open hardware? Second sources please? MS open? same deal — pay the tax or nothing. Neither are open. It’s the myth of the ages that PCs aren’t proprietary — they are. Sure there are different chips that run windows, if that’s your test of open, but it’s not mine. Open is what you can do with your data — and do it in the future.
But now with the *nixes becoming standard and advancing, hardware drops in importance — maybe even disappears. What’s important is what you can do with your box, not what your box is. Be it a palm, a cell phone, a blackberry, a VIA LTX a settop box or a gawk — a PC. Do you care what chip is in your Linksys router? do you know? Sure techies will buy PCs maybe even sole source Opteron PCs, but they will run a *nix OS.
The PC as we know it is on borrowed time. Wintel is dead.
That’s why IBM is exiting the stage.
Times change.
IBM, which is the 3rd largest PC Vendor in the world, is getting rid of it’s PC business because they have become a commodity and there is very little to be gained by holding on and a lot to lose. Now this guy wants Sun to enter the same exact market that IBM is just now leaving so that Sun can lose a lot of money and cheapen it’s brand. WHY?
There isn’t much money in HW or OSes these days. I would think services is where the money is. Stuff like systems integration, outsourcing etc.
Worst editorial bit ever…. Serioulsy, can just anbody write some un-researched crapola and get it listed on the frontpage of osnews? I don’t have the time to even begin to rebuke some of the incrorect assumptions listed above, but it’s obvious the posters opinions are all based from personal home market analysis. There is NO WAY this poster is from the enterprise marketplace.
Gatcha~
Maybe they’re already better positioned that even the authors wild imagination will allow – who makes the JVM on your phone?
Sun is a premium vendor. For them to get into the commodity desktop market would be suicide. But Sun does need to do something that will shore up their shrinking market, while maintaining their position as a premium vendor. I propose they port Solaris to PowerPC as a server OS. This is not as far fetched as it sounds. They did commit to doing that in the early days of AIM (Apple, IBM, Motorola) Power PC Alliance. However the project was dropped before anything materialized.
Solaris is still seen buy many to be one of the best Unix OSes. However the high perceived cost of Sun Sparc hardware may be limiting its market. The PowerPC architecture may be a good compromise between Pentium and Sparc. Apple has managed to score some sales in the server market, selling the xServe as a higher performance per dollar (read premium) server system. Sun could build a similar device and market Solaris as a more robust alternative to Mac OS or Linux.
This does not mean they have to abandon their Spar architecture. Just as IBM sells both Pentium and PowerPC based servers, Sun could sell the PowerPC systems as low to mid-range, and sell their Sparc systems as high end systems.
Sun’s Marc Hamilton
http://www.socallinuxexpo.org/speakers/speakers_hamilton.php
will be speaking at the Southern California Linux Expo on February 12th and 13th 2005.
http://www.socallinuxexpo.org
Solaris 2.5.1 was ported to PowerPC.
I saw the box and the media kit.
Apparently only a handful (<10!) customers
ever bought it though.
With the imminent release of OpenSolaris
I’m sure that there will be a port to Power/PowerPC
very shortly – which will make a lot of
Sun folks happy because the Mac is a very popular
system.