[ Thanks to Kelly
McNeill for this link. ]
“Unlike its competitors, Sun resisted the thought of becoming
another Microsoft drone. They stuck with the Sparc processor,
followed their own proprietary standards for hardware and sell
their own Operating System – Solaris. They innovate with system
languages like Java and hardware solutions like their network
computer and their large storage solutions.”
“As an ally of Linux, the community couldn’t ask for a better
partner. Can Dell, Gateway, IBM, Compaq or HP stop selling the toy
system known as Microsoft Windows? The big 5 computer manufacturers
have two masters and they can’t please either one. One master we
already know as Microsoft. The other master is someone about which
we sometimes forget and that’s the customer base….”
“As an analyst and an executive, I tend to wonder why the
major Linux distributions haven’t forged closer alliances with
Sun. Perhaps the courting ritual in the Silicon Valley
alliance game becomes more difficult with Sun involved. The major
Linux distributions appear to follow the path of least resistance
when courting partners. Thus, a Caldera buys (rescues?) a lesser
performing Unix company called SCO.”