The trouble I see in the blogosphere is there is a serious lack of friends out there for Sun, the open source types haven't bought the vision and are still treating Sun like its one of the other evil major vendors and the commercially aligned folk are tied to their old mindset's of paying big bucks for 'big things'.
I've said before I think Sun has a compelling stack from the top to the bottom, its open, free (in many cases) and (I assume) functionally well rounded. I think they have a vision of the future, I would claim I believe in it and they seem, despite the naysayers, to be trying to execute it. That all said, the words of Jefferson Davis come to me: (to paraphrase): "If (Sun Microsystems) falls, there should be written on its tombstone: DIED OF A THEORY." On Nov 21, 8:27 am, "Peter Becker" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I personally think that: > - Karsten is right in that shrink-wrapped has the best margins and > still is a big market to make money in > - this market is dying fast, thus not the future as you claim (Karsten > didn't say that) > - you are right that Sun is ahead of the curve and suffering the > problems of being an early adopter > > There was a talk in Stanford's Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders Seminar > Series (had to copy and paste that one) which had a bit on how being > too early can kill a project and even a whole startup, unfortunately I > don't remember the episode that was in. But I think the idea is right: > to get a product to market the market has to be ready, if you are too > early your product will fail even if it is good. > > Chances aren't too bad that Sun isn't that far ahead that it would > kill a company of its size. But I must say that I am a bit more > concerened about the prominent people leaving Sun -- if they can't > keep the technical innovators life will be hard for them. > > Peter > > On Fri, Nov 21, 2008 at 3:16 AM, andrew.bruce.law > > > > > > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > Disclosure: I used to work for Sun and despite myself (like Joe I > > think) I still don't want to see them die. > > > @Karsten. I follow your reasoning if the future is shrink wrapped > > software and you're right, Sun don't follow this. > > > However, check out Simon Phipps on FLOSS Weekly 39 [1] to see what Sun > > *do* think it is. I honestly think things are changing in the > > marketplace. Just look at the rise of cloud computing, IBM trying to > > change the way it works with Jazz (which I know went down badly among > > that audience but try it out and more importantly look at how they're > > running the development) and MSFT slowly getting more and more OSS > > friendly. Sun might be ahead of the curve too much and die before > > this all comes to fruition (think "the network is the computer") but > > even if this happens I think history might be kinder on them than Wall > > Street is now... > > > Or perhaps I'm dreaming. ;-) > > > Regs, Andrew > > > [1]http://twit.tv/floss39 > > > On Nov 15, 11:41 pm, Joe Data <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >> On Nov 15, 2:01 pm, Patrick Wright <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > >> > Java, broken out in terms of revenue, has brought in around $220 million > >> > per > >> > year for the last couple of years (no details before that). Not > >> > knowing the costs involved, and just guessing, it seems like a pretty > >> > tidy sum of money, which should more than cover the costs involved. I > >> > think it must also be pretty clear to Sun that ignoring or "letting > >> > Java die" in some way would be killing one of the golden geese at the > >> > company, if nothing else in terms of branding. I can't imagine it, > >> > anyhow. > > >> It's a general assumption that Sun doesn't make money from Java, other > >> companies do (like IBM or Oracle), and the numbers support this. Sun > >> has an operating system, a database, Java, and middleware and made > >> $124mln the last quarter from all its software group. IBM has > >> operating systems, a database, system management software, and > >> middleware and makes 5.2 bln last quarter (42 times as > >> much,http://www.ibm.com/investor/3q08/presentation/3q08.pdf, slide 8) with > >> a gross margin of 84.7% (that's pretty nearly a Microsoft Windows or > >> Office margin). Nothing in the IT industry is as profitable as selling > >> "shrink-wrapped software", a business that Sun got out by giving its > >> software away. > > >> Karsten > > -- > What happened to Schroedinger's cat? My invisible saddled white dragon ate it. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Java Posse" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/javaposse?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
