> Sun knows this, and is arguably more motivated than Microsoft to minimize
> Perl and open-source in general.
Actually, aside from Java they aren't. Sun, remember, developed NFS and NIS a
while back. The gave it away. They like open source code to the extent that it helps
them sell Sun boxes and Solaris.
Problem isn't that they view O/S as "competition". It's that some people in marketing
look out and say "hmmm, why aren't we getting all of the money spent on Sun boxes?"
They then start charging for compilers, Java, etc, in order to collect more money from
their installed base.
Then they bump into tools like Perl that (a) they don't own and (b) work well.
If we could show Sun that they can make money off of Perl (e.g., with support
contracts or proprietary modules that support sun-specific features) then they
would have a reason to "sell" Perl. It will always be a step-child to Java but at
least they won't be antagonistic about it. Hard thing about that is getting them
to admit Java isn't everything to everyone everywhere -- which has been their
sales hype -- and still save face.
sl
