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<P><FONT SIZE=2>My crystal ball shows an advent of solaris simply because its not the soon-to-be-microsoft-dominated linux codebase. .. Shudder...<BR>
Then again with software patent wars the actual codebase does not matter anymore...<BR>
<BR>
Michael<BR>
<BR>
Sent from my GoodLink synchronized handheld (www.good.com)<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
-----Original Message-----<BR>
From: Robert G. Brown [<A HREF="mailto:rgb@phy.duke.edu">mailto:rgb@phy.duke.edu</A>]<BR>
Sent: Wednesday, November 21, 2007 08:44 AM Pacific Standard Time<BR>
To: Geoff<BR>
Cc: Beowulf Mailing List<BR>
Subject: Re: [Beowulf] Joe Blaylock's notes on running a MacOS cluster, Nov.2007<BR>
<BR>
On Wed, 21 Nov 2007, Geoff wrote:<BR>
<BR>
> While their OS is indeed constrained to their hardware, you can freely<BR>
> install and run other OSs on their hardware (Windows, Linux and *BSD) so I<BR>
> would agree they tend to position themselves as a hardware company but I<BR>
> disagree that they will need to make a choice in the future about that...<BR>
> unless market conditions change, of course.<BR>
<BR>
Well, given that Apple was basically driven to the brink of bankruptcy<BR>
(and saved only by massive infusions of capital and because of the fact<BR>
that Microsoft couldn't afford for them to go away either, or else<BR>
NOBODY could even PRETEND that they weren't the competition-killing<BR>
monopoly that of course they are anyway), given that Jobs second effort<BR>
died a well-deserved and horrible death, given that Sun microsystems is<BR>
sweating its way through even its huge accumulation of capital with<BR>
little end to the bleed in sight, given that the corporate graveyards of<BR>
the past are littered, quite literally, with companies that tried to do<BR>
both, well... I think that market conditions COULD change overnight. Oh<BR>
DEC and NeXT, we hardly knew ye...;-)<BR>
<BR>
I also think that Apples' current success has a lot more to do with its<BR>
adoption of a Unix base and quiet absorption of a large chunk of<BR>
unix-derived code into its code base than anything else. Oh, and a few<BR>
devices like the iPod that gave them market cred once again with the<BR>
young market, which had been more or less completely one over to<BR>
game-playing Microsoft. But we'll see. Jobs has proven adept at<BR>
succeeding wildly and then squandering it all with one or two terrible<BR>
and religious decisions (because Apple was never a company, always a<BR>
cult). Has he learned from his mistakes? We'll see.<BR>
<BR>
> I think more companies and vendors need to better focus on the integration<BR>
> between hardware and software. Being one or the other results in too many<BR>
> gaps in the implementation of useful technologies. Having a default choice<BR>
> with a good track record and a clear focus is a "really good thing" (TM) in<BR>
> my opinion. It does increase the cost of the computing platform but there is<BR>
> plenty of room in the universe for that.<BR>
<BR>
I agree, actually. If Dell simply decided to invest the TINY bit of<BR>
money required to build and support a "Dell Linux System" and actually<BR>
drop prices to match -- the biggest piece of work it would require of<BR>
them is to use some care in their hardware choices and dump the cheapie<BR>
broadcom WLAN NICs, for example. The only other thing that would be<BR>
needed would be to actually market them. As I noted earlier, to really<BR>
trick out even a home computer with something beyond MS Works (a.k.a the<BR>
most useless free package in the universe) costs the hidden cost of the<BR>
base OS plus hundreds of dollars in AV, Office, and applications. In an<BR>
apples-to-apples marketing campaign, they could demonstrate the real<BR>
cost savings not of $50 but of more like $500 in buying otherwise<BR>
identically outfitted systems, each perfectly adequate for use in a home<BR>
computing environment.<BR>
<BR>
>> Sun needs to make the same choice.<BR>
>><BR>
><BR>
> Perhaps. In my view they have made some unfortunate compromises. The lack<BR>
> of floating point performance when the Niagra processors hit the market was a<BR>
> bad compromise, for example. I am sure they saw their AMD offerings as a<BR>
> balance to that. Their initial implementation of a cheap 3rd party IPMI/SMDC<BR>
> solution for their x2100 series systems has been a huge PITA for my current<BR>
> client. There is such a thing as too much choice and Sun was (and perhaps<BR>
> still is) offering too much for customers to be able to make an informed<BR>
> purchasing decision.<BR>
<BR>
They are hampered in so many ways. They are a high-margin sales company<BR>
in a world where computers are such a complete commodity that there is<BR>
no margin in them any more.<BR>
<BR>
So are they a company from whom you can buy really great servers? Maybe<BR>
but so is IBM, so is Penguin, so is Dell, and even Apple servers are OK.<BR>
Lots of tier 1, plenty of tier 2, and then there is tigerdirect.com...<BR>
So why pay THEM anything much over market, which means their marginal<BR>
profit is going to be low.<BR>
<BR>
Are they a company that sells Solaris? Sure, but nobody wants to buy it<BR>
anymore. Linux -- even from e.g. Red Hat -- is at worst competitive<BR>
with it, at best free in comparison to it. Linux comes with 8 gazillion<BR>
applications, automated update mechanisms, a constant stream of<BR>
innovations and improvements, new device support, and none of it has to<BR>
be supported by Sun's SEs. Customers have become savvy to the<BR>
advantages of having open source as well. So now Sun GIVES away Solaris<BR>
if you ask them nicely, and are moving open -- just about exactly<BR>
fifteen years too late.<BR>
<BR>
Curiously, I told Duke's Sun rep just about fifteen years ago "Y'know,<BR>
you've got a fully functional Intel-based Unix -- if you focussed on it<BR>
and sold it for $50 a pop full retail for all these Intel PCs and worked<BR>
on developing a real software base for it, you'd own the Universe in<BR>
three years...". They scoffed. Sun sold HARDWARE at the time, Sparc<BR>
boxes, and no way were those Intels ever going to take that market away.<BR>
<BR>
So Sun has finally learned the hard way that they're a software company<BR>
after all (or that they can be a very modestly profitable hardware<BR>
company in competition with all the other modestly profitable hardware<BR>
companies), but now they are too late to be able to make real money with<BR>
a high volume of low margin sales, and Linux absolutely guarantees that<BR>
(whether or not they can take out MS) nobody else is ever going to make<BR>
money from a low value of high margin sales in the business ever again.<BR>
And Apple is appallingly vulnerable to the same thing. Their ONLY real<BR>
advantage over linux besides the mystique and religion is the relative<BR>
ease of use of the user interface and of course their complete control<BR>
over the hardware. Either one could go away at any time.<BR>
<BR>
Too bad...<BR>
<BR>
rgb<BR>
<BR>
--<BR>
Robert G. Brown<BR>
Duke University Dept. of Physics, Box 90305<BR>
Durham, N.C. 27708-0305<BR>
Phone(cell): 1-919-280-8443<BR>
Web: <A HREF="http://www.phy.duke.edu/~rgb">http://www.phy.duke.edu/~rgb</A><BR>
Lulu Bookstore: <A HREF="http://stores.lulu.com/store.php?fAcctID=877977">http://stores.lulu.com/store.php?fAcctID=877977</A><BR>
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