Infrastructure Software

Hello,

The purpose of this topic is to let Sun know what they're killing here if they should care to check. I think Sun would be suprised to see how many businesses use the Intel OS in interesting ways.

At one time I worked for a company that had close to 200 UltraSparc servers running Solaris 8. We started using Solaris on Intel for training purposes where staff could take a box home for dirt cheap (like an old Celeron 300 etc) and use it for development and to gain confidence and knowledge of Unix. The result is more staff getting hooked on the Solaris OS. It's like the whole point to Linux being FREE. If it's free, invariably, someone will download and install it and learn it. Eventually the odd one or two of these people become key developers in emerging business and could be responsible for directing the company away from Windows to Solaris. Without that familiarity on the less formally educated techs out there, instead of the chance they come to Sun, they'll be going to the Linux's and the BSD's or the Microsofts. Everyone knows PC hardware.... Not so many have ever touched Sun hardware (in my experience).

Today I'm using Solaris 8 (Intel) on 10 servers to perform various tasks along side Windows 2000 and RedHat Linux servers. 2 of these machines are nothing more than primary and secondary DNS servers, while others are fully functional web and mail servers.

Why do I think Sun should care? Well, what Sun may not realize is that a lot of companies are just starting to make use of Solaris on Intel, where otherwise they will choose a Linux OS strictly to save money and make it easy to buy hardware from the corner store (everyone around here sells PC hardware, try and fun Sun hardware... yeah right). Anyway, as these companies grow and develop, they get to a position where they can look at using Sun Hardware for key tasks like their DB servers, etc. While I agree Sun won't make any money on Solaris Intel if they don't get some kind of Intel based hardware out there, I think it's time they realized they're being beaten to a pulp and that there are plenty of other Unix OS's for people to choose from that have 0 paths into Sun software/hardware.

So in a nutshell, while Solaris on Intel is not directly responsible for any notable revenue since it became free, the problem is, this was a step in the right direction for the long-term future of Sun. One step forward-two steps back.