“We won’t see ported, tuned applications on Merced or McKinley
for a couple years,” and then companies will be dealing with the
“W2K problem:” the arrival of Windows 2000, McNealy said in a
conference call today.
“McNealy had effusive praise for Linux, the freely distributed
Unix-like operating system. The operating system is popular on
low-end servers, desktops, and portables, he said, “a space where
Solaris isn’t super-strong.” And because Linux and Unix are
similar, it’s easy to move software from one system to the
other.”
“‘If they were cousins, they wouldn’t be allowed to marry,’
quipped McNealy.”
“Curiously, Microsoft executives have made the opposite argument
about Linux, saying that Linux draws users already fond of Unix
away from Sun.”
“‘The prospects have not looked as good as this in a long time,
if ever,’ said Laura Conigliaro, an analyst with Goldman
Sachs.”