Well there is no doubt that the shift about 8-10 years ago at Sun to focus on SMP servers caused the SPARC workstations to suffer. So much focus was placed on making mid-range to high-end servers that did not have the requirements of a workstation line. And there was the shift to rack-mount entry-level servers with "lights-out" features. These were not bad things to go after for Sun as it has placed them in competition with IBM and HP. The big issue now is that the ecosystem that attracted people or companies to develop, port, and support their applications on SPARC is dropping off. Linux is where it's at today because it focused on winning the hearts and minds of the developers and making the costs cheap (commodity hardware). No way could that happen with an expensive SPARC server or over-priced UltraSPARC-IIIi box. Now on the flip side, MacOS X is without a doubt the best UNIX desktop today. They use Intel, but add value and prevent folks from just installing MacOS X anywhere. Apple figured out how to get everyday people onto their platform successfully, unlike all the other UNIX vendors. If Sun really wants to re-enter the workstation market.. it'll have to ask itself the same questions that Apple did with the PPC line. I would also go as far to say that Apple successfully migrated its customers from PPC to Intel and increase the value. I think there is a lot for Sun to learn from Apple in this regard. If CMT really is the future.. there's no point in peddling SPARC64 or UltraSPARC-IV+ chips in a workstation or desktop. Get people into porting their apps and scaling them on a cheap CMT desktop. Right now, this is one technology that is way ahead of the competition, but getting people to take advantage of it is an entirely different matter. What better way to fix this than to have cheap CMT workstations.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* Octave J. Orgeron Solaris Virtualization Architect and Consultant Web: http://unixconsole.blogspot.com E-Mail: unixconsole at yahoo.com *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* ----- Original Message ---- From: Paul Gress <[email protected]> To: OpenSolaris X Window System List <xwin-discuss at opensolaris.org>; Open Solaris <opensolaris-discuss at opensolaris.org> Sent: Sunday, December 28, 2008 6:10:44 PM Subject: Re: [osol-discuss] *LOL* : - "Xorg on SPARC will not work with any driver except the included wsfb (which only works on m64 graphics in 8-bit mode) unless you get updated matching driver packages from the SPARC graphics team, since this release break Dale Ghent wrote: > I have to say that when Sun ceased production of the last SPARC > desktop, I winced a bit. And I agree, though, that the need for SPARC > workstations in this day and age are clearly for the "misc. reasons" > you speak of. > > In light of that, I cannot imagine those users being sufficient enough > to keep design, manufacturing, and support for SPARC workstation a > viable and profitable venture. > > I know some people are up in arms over this (witness today's post of a > "revive SPARC desktops" petition on osol-announce) but as much as I > like SPARC hardware, I cannot help but to think that those wishing for > its return to the desktop are doing so more for nostalgic reasons than > practical ones. If one is really hard up about running SPARC-only X > apps, then by all means get a Intel workstation and a SPARC server to > X-display the app from. > > While I tend to agree with your points I still have this thought. When Sun started their business in creating workstations, there was no user base. But they pulled it off with their technical superiority on their platforms. Do you think Sun has lost their technical superiority or just has lost all interest in workstations. I see it as lost interest. I thought when they got Andy von Bechtolsheim back they would produce sparc workstations again. I guess I was wrong. I don't know exactly what brick wall they hit to stop development of the workstation. Any way, the trend is now X64 Workstations. Sun has worked in helping port this platform with various MCAD and ECAD companies. I only hope is gets widely utilized and has more applications ported from Sparc. Paul _______________________________________________ opensolaris-discuss mailing list opensolaris-discuss at opensolaris.org
