On 6/19/2010 8:45 AM, bsd wrote:
Dropping OpenSolaris on the IBM mainframe was logical, because there would
never be any market. However, to me, this clearly illustrates Oracle's intent
to push Solaris on SPARC only, in the same way that IBM has AIX on POWER only.
Nah, I think that's premature speculation.
The bigger question here is *not* whether Oracle intends to continue
supporting x64 (for which very cognizant arguments supporting the idea
that Oracle has no intention of dropping x64 have been made elsewhere in
this thread), but if Oracle intends to be the *sole* source for Solaris.
Frankly, given that they seem to be very intent on keeping Solaris
around to run all their appliances and Enterprise hardware (and, I
detect a slight de-emphasis on Linux in recent months' PR), I'm not sure
what the thinking is about allowing Solaris on non-Oracle hardware.
I certainly can see the point of view (from Oracle Mgmt) that supporting
random hardware isn't worth it (i.e. that selling support contracts to
anyone is much more hassle than profit), but I think they're making a
serious mistake if they cut off all the OEM contracts with other large
box-builders. The plain truth is that Oracle hardware isn't going to
fit everyone's needs (and by everyone, I mean their target Enterprise
audience), so businesses are always going to be buying stuff elsewhere.
It's not true that by tying Solaris to Oracle hardware you will increase
(by much) Oracle hardware sales. There's simply stuff that Oracle
doesn't sell that others do. And the additional revenue that can be
brought in by allowing OEM deals with companies like HP is serious cash.
In the end, I suspect that Solaris will eventually be sold/supported on
non-Oracle hardware again. Even right now, it's still available on IBM
and Dell equipment. It may be just that Oracle is playing hard-ball
with HP around the cut of the profits, and the cancellation is just a
negotiation tactic. If it *is* part of a larger general strategy to
bring Solaris back to in-house hardware only, I think they're going to
find out reasonably soon that it's a mistake (and, miss that revenue).
Oracle seems to be very profit-sensitive; things that make fast profit
get done, those that don't have a clear path-to-profit get quickly axed.
Note: I have no inside knowledge about anything in this message. It's my
personal reading of the tea leaves that have been coming out of Oracle's
mouth.
--
Erik Trimble
Java System Support
Mailstop: usca22-123
Phone: x17195
Santa Clara, CA
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