I can agree in general that software needs a support contract for IT departments but what does that have do with not being able to get security patches for free. You're right this isn't 1994 and the software world is much different. An OS is mostly commodity--and it is so because there are free alternatives out there now. OpenBSD in particular has security in sharp focus and has a very good track record in this regard. There are plenty of services that Sun/Oracle can sell on top of the OS because, as you've said, it's unacceptable for IT environments to not have support contracts for software. Think of it as good corporate citizenship for small shops who run Solaris or want to try it as a viable alternative to Linux and Windows because at least there will be free support for security patches and updates.
Sun in the 80s and early 90s had a policy of virtually giving away computers to universities, i.e., hook them while they're young and when the go out into the corporate world, they may recommend what they know best, Sun's OS and hardware. At that time, Sun's hardware and OS was light years ahead of any PC running anything from Microsoft--OK, too obvious to mention. Offering free carrots may be good way to entice customers to sit at Oracle's table for paid services. In any case, Oracle like the unimaginative company they are will probably mess this up and we'll see Solaris/OpenSolaris slowly or quickly be irrelevant. Perhaps, it's already so and all this is rather moot anyways. -- This message posted from opensolaris.org _______________________________________________ opensolaris-discuss mailing list [email protected]
