Sun Steps Back from Linux JDS 202
chill writes "ZD Net UK is reporting that Sun is pulling back from their JDS desktop Linux initiative. The big question is what happened to those half-million to million-plus units that were supposed to ship in China in 2004? One hint may be that in April, Novell announced a deal with CSSC to 'cooperate to provide technology, services and marketing to optimise and promote Linux to the Chinese market.' Sun's JDS was based on SUSE Linux, now owned by Novell."
What happened to those units (Score:2, Funny)
This was inevitable (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:This was inevitable (Score:4, Insightful)
Someone should whack them with a cluestick - everyone knows there are severe penalties for early withdrawal (from a new market).
Re:This was inevitable (Score:5, Insightful)
That's not entirely true. Sun's strategy has always been to sell hardware and complete solutions. It really doesn't matter to them if they're selling Linux or Solaris. In fact, long before JDS they provided an option to preload RedHat on many of their systems. Why anyone would chose RedHat over Solaris for a server system is beyond me, but a lot of customers were demanding it.
All the JDS is lacking is a true follow through. This half-assed release-it-and-then-drop-it strategy is guaranteed failure.
Re:This was inevitable (Score:4, Interesting)
- iptables
- proper package management (not that red hat provides that, but compared pkgadd anything seems good)
- real command line utils (GNU), ie:
- color ls
- tar with gzip, bzip support (no need for piping)
Now I don't want to give the impression I think Solaris is crap. Far from it. Obviously you wouldn't want to run Linux on a massive 64 processor server or anything. But for a small system, and for ease of use and maintenance, Linux is a lot nicer to work with.
It's amazing how much the small conveniences add up. Seriously, try going without color ls for a while. It's ridiculous, but it can be really frustrating.
Re:This was inevitable (Score:2)
- color ls
- tar with gzip, bzip support (no need for piping)
I used to get that sort of stuff in Solaris (during the 90's) via.
I agree with you on the small conveniences. 10 years ago a personal Linux desktop was almost as useful as a professionally administrated and configured shared Solaris box. Today they aren't in the same ballpark, Linux is so much easier to configure setup use....
Re:This was inevitable (Score:2)
Fair enough. You do have to go with commercial solutions on Solaris.
- proper package management (not that red hat provides that, but compared pkgadd anything seems good)
This has got to be a personal preference. While Sun may send out patches in huge (and annoying) bundles, at least you can always get the right package without any troubles. I can't count the number of times I've been stuck in RedHat RPM HELL. No, no. I need to bury the memory. It's too painful. Too... THE HORROR!
- real comm
Re:This was inevitable (Score:2)
My machine still runs Solaris 8, and I haven't played enough with 10 to know. Thanks for the update.
I don't remember a CD for Sun Firewall, but it's possible they added it later. Sun tends to update their software distributions once per quarter, so it can be difficult at times to say for certain what a given OS version has bundled.
IPtables is very convoluted, powerfull but screwy. PF (OpenBSD/FreeBSD) is the best IMNSH
Re:This was inevitable (Score:2)
Re:This was inevitable (Score:4, Informative)
Actually sir... that's not... entirely... true [top500.org].
Re:This was inevitable (Score:2)
I believe this constitutes "big iron".
Not really. There is a huge difference between a machine set up for numerical supercomputing (something SGI have provided for years) and a general purpose multiprocessor machine.
"Big Iron" refers to these general purpose machines which are used for things like business processing, running databases and application servers.
The sup
Re:This was inevitable (Score:2)
Re:This was inevitable (Score:2)
Depends which model. The smaller models are sold as general purpose. The larger ones are sold as HPC (High Performance Computing) systems for scientific and technical use.
Re:This was inevitable (Score:2)
It shows what the computer is capable of doing. If the larger machines were suitable for running general-purpose applications SGI would certainly indicate that in the advertising.
Re:This was inevitable (Score:2)
Exactly. Which is dramatically different from the claim that 'Linux scales to 512 processors for general purpose work'.
Unisys's market is very definitely enterprise servers for running databases, business processing and application servers, not HPC.
Which it is reasonable to do with Linux on carefully designed 16-way or 32-way systems.
Re:This was inevitable (Score:4, Interesting)
In order:
* ipfilter (which does filtering and in/out NAT including packet level load balancing that is just as good as anything F4 is providing).
* the solaris package system sucks, yes - but compared to RedHat, by your own admission, is not worse. Download pkg-get from Blastwave and it does all the dependency instlalation and downloading for you anyways, providing a terribly "apt" like system. Who actually downloads Solaris packages manually anymore? Idiots.. that's who.
* Solaris has come with bash standard, a whole folder of GNU tools (/usr/sfw) and via pkg-get, access to anything and everything that Linux provides in the way of GNU command line tools.
- color ls isn't ls, per se - it's in the environment. I have color ls on my Solaris boxes. It's trivially easy to configure and is unique to Linux that it's set that way standard. Google is your friend.
- Solaris tar sucks for many reasons, the biggest of which is it's long standing problems with long filenames. Linux distributions use gtar, and Solaris comes with gtar out of the box in
Point is - if you just set your environment right (this takes 30 seconds to do when you finish installing your system), most of your arguments disappear and if you get pkg-get the rest of your arguments go with it.
As for ease of use and maintenance, Solaris 10 with pkg-get and Sun's network management tools reign -hugely- supreme over most Linux distributions. I speak purely from the standpoint of some who has to manage dozens of Solaris boxes (and at one point, dozens of Linux boxes) at the same time. The only Linux dist I've used that really holds up from a management point of view is Red Hat Enterprise - which is every bit as good as the stuff Sun is doing these days.
Yes, you have to pay for both (I think Sun is actually a little cheaper, IIRC), but it costs me way less to pay Sun/Red Hat for their network manageement services than it costs me in time and labor - one day of my time can cost more than a whole year of RHN.
As for color ls - haven't been around long, have you? Color ls is a moderate convenience.. but who actually needs it? If you can't be just as efficient without it you probably need to take a UNIX course or something.
Re:This was inevitable (Score:2)
--
[winston@perplexed ~]$ uname -a
OpenBSD perplexed.alwyn.alioth.net 3.6 GENERIC#304 sparc64
Re:This was inevitable (Score:3, Informative)
Log into a single web site, see every server in your stable, along with every package installed, every patch that is pending, all your system info about each server, etc.
It's the -service- that makes RedHat Enterprise the top tier Enterprise Linux, not the software.
Excellent rebuttal (Score:2)
Your post was by far the best out of all the replies. Very informative, thank you.
Re:Excellent rebuttal (Score:2)
All that being said
Re:This was inevitable (Score:2)
Try the "E" switch with Sun tar, as in:
Re:This was inevitable (Score:2)
ipfilter comes with Solaris 10
- proper package management (not that red hat provides that, but compared pkgadd anything seems good)
Agreed.
- real command line utils (GNU), ie:
- color ls
- tar with gzip, bzip support (no need for piping)
SUN has been shipping the Software Companion CD (filled with GNU tools, extra window managers, etc.) since Solaris 8 which goes back several years now. The stuff is installed to /opt/sfw (Sun Freeware). Some stuff is now included with the OS under /usr/
Re:This was inevitable (Score:2)
I mean, c'mon, my OS is superior because when I ssh in I get ls in color??? There's plenty of performance and security reasons out there to like Solaris.
Would use chose a Redhat box over a Solaris box to run an Oracle DB?
Re:This was inevitable (Score:2)
Package managment? I don't know about Solaris but if their pkg_add is similair to the BSDs it works but not much more, kind of the same situation that RPM is in
And probabl
Re:This was inevitable (Score:2)
IPTables...HAHAHAHA Solaris 10 comes with IPF, which is the mainstay of the BSD systems, at least until OpenBSD went to PF.
Solaris pkgadd works well, it's very mature, and there are awesome front ends for it, like pkg-get from Blastwave.
Real command line utils? Solaris provides the original Bourne Shell all the way to modern Bash, with ksh, zsh, etc. for good measure. Sun provides both BSD and SYS V variants of commands. Sun also provides a butt load of GNU utils under
Color ls
Re:This was inevitable (Score:5, Interesting)
RedHat Enterprise Linux 4 has become the distribution of choice at work. It's not my first choice but RHEL is easy to install - and has the support pricetag (and scapegoat) to keeps management happy.
If you can't beat 'em, find something plausible to fit their preconceptions...
Re:This was inevitable (Score:3, Insightful)
Depends. If it's an actual Sun-built box, then it's just as good as a Sparc box. If it's Solaris/x86 on a random Dell or something, then I agree completely.
Re:This was inevitable (Score:2)
also, solaris 10 runs fine on my non "sun-approved" machines (ie. designs built or reused by sun).
a cpu is a cpu is a cpu, and support for everything else is catching up fast these days (also thanks to stable interfaces, which make binary drivers less painful)
Re:This was inevitable (Score:2)
Solaris/x86 is supposed to. But if you have a Sun Built box, you should be getting the full OpenBoot system, the awesome graphical console, the cross-bar bus, and many other features that are unique to Sun machines. If Sun has stopped building their non-Sparc products that way, then... well... Sun's value proposition would be dropping, wouldn't it?
Re:This was inevitable (Score:2)
All their current opteron hardware is oem and use an "normal" bios. (They can support windows, so it is just a normal bios, not the open firmware/forth solution).
Re:This was inevitable (Score:2)
Of course, scapegoat is the major deciding factor here.....
Re:This was inevitable (Score:2)
I know this opinion isn't going to be very popular around here, but at my company we found exactly the opposite was true. The Redhat servers are nice, and seem to run well, however the support costs are borderline ridiculous, and we end up paying more for annual support that it would cost us for Sun support.
Re:This was inevitable (Score:3, Insightful)
What is the evidence for this? Linux is a good platform for them to provide software for and sell services for.
Sun developing for linux is ultimately counterproductive to its own long term future.
Why? They are moving towards being increasingly a software services company.
Re:This is only the kernel... (Score:3, Informative)
That means the Gnome, Java-for-desktop-apps and Open Office efforts will keep on, and they'll switch kernels on the desktop offering.
Might be inevitable, but is it wise? (Score:3, Insightful)
From a business viewpoint, you're probably right, if they want to keep selling what they're selling.
On the other hand, sometimes you have to transform the firm - just ask Groves about Intel changing from making memory to making CPUs.
Re:This was inevitable (Score:3, Interesting)
Even less so when they open-source Solaris and try to gain more momentum.
Right now I think they are doing everything right. x86 Solaris, Open-Solaris, cheap x86 workstations, soon(?) to be open Java.
I'll probably install Op
Re:This was inevitable (Score:2)
Exactly my read of their attitude at the time. That they were doing something they didn't want to be doing, didn't believe in and that they would ax the project at the first opportunity. Which they did, and which is why I'll be even more convinced this is their attitude the next time they float another linux trial balloon.
Eventually though, the penguin is going to devour the market for Solaris, Their too little, too late attempt at open sourcing it not wit
Re:This was inevitable (Score:2)
I don't think it was a real try of accepting and using Linux, I think it was more of a test running on Linux first since they didn't had Solaris ready.
I don't see why people are upset, it's not like Solaris was a major Linux player anyway, and for the people who used/uses/are intresting to use the JAVA Desktop to have it ru
Re:This was inevitable (Score:2)
We are making progress but we are a long way from that.
Re:This was inevitable (Score:2)
Re:This was inevitable (Score:2)
Re:This was inevitable (Score:2)
Re:This was inevitable (Score:2)
The best way to see this is in the area of security. Windows uses the VMS security model which is vastly more secure than the Unix one. However all the apps are based
Re:This was inevitable (Score:2)
Re:This was inevitable (Score:2)
Apple "juggernaut"?
APPLE "juggernaut"?
Apple "JUGGERNAUT"?
Let me have some of what you're smoking...unless it's just bad neurochemistry.
Apple is no more a "juggernaut" than my dick is the size of Milton Berle's. (Oh, wait...)
Re:This was inevitable (Score:2)
As long as we have KDE and GNOME and a weak display technology, Linux will never be a serious contender on the desktop. Unfortunetly, choice is NOT good when it comes to desktops. Think GSM vs. the many US cellular technologies. Standard vs fragmantation.
What does this have to do with anything? Sun is dropping L
Forget China (Score:5, Interesting)
What about those of us here in the US who *paid* for JDS and were promised major upgrades every quarter? We saw the JDS 1.0 -> 2.0 upgrade, then it stopped while Sun worked on JDS/Solaris.
Sun needs to learn that the only way they're going to make inroads into the desktop market is if they follow through. Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither was the popularity of Java or Solaris. If Sun would take the time to listen to their customers and implement the features they are demanding, then they'd have a very good chance at success. *sigh*
Re:Forget China (Score:4, Interesting)
We're disposable. Why should we matter? It's a free OS. We can do anything else we want to.
As long companies that could make a difference with Linux vs. Microsoft take such a Hokey-Pokey (you put the left foot in, you take the left foot out...) attitude towards the market, there will be no major progress. There will only continue to be piecemeal progress done by users with the occasional company riding on their backs.
Can't say as I'm surprised about this. I had JDS from the release date, and throught the support has been among the worst I've ever gotten. I don't think they ever seriously expected it to go anywhere.
Hopefully they'll now let it go for free. It's worth that.
Re:Forget China (Score:2)
You're exactly right. The problem is that investing in something as relatively unknown as Linux on the desktop is a *huge* risk, and so far, nobody has been willing to take that
Re:Forget China (Score:2)
I just burned a set of JDS 3 update CDs.
Re:Forget China (Score:2)
Re:Forget China (Score:2)
Nope. OpenSolaris is here for good. Sun is committed to open sourcing all their software. Their execs have said it several times already. They've made good on Solaris, J2EE, seems a database is on the way, and there've been hints about J2SE.
After all this is done, imagine Sun being a hardware/services company with a 100% OSS stack. And it's all supported by Sun's engineering processes.
I actually swiched from Linux to Solaris 9 and 10. Not dicking around with the kernel drivers and actually having do
Re:Forget China (Score:2)
"Longhorn disease", do you?
There are a number of areas that SUN could be
spending more effort on. I certainly wouldn't
mind seeing StarOffice released on more platforms,
like Mac OS X. But SUN is continuing development
of JDS on Solaris, and may only be delayed in
support for linux. Their Solaris 10 product is
currently a bit shy of all SUN's enhancements --
their virtual file system is one example. If
SUN's development efforts are slower than you
like, at least be ha
Re:Forget China (Score:2)
Your upgrade is ready. It's called "Solaris 10".
Re:Forget China (Score:2)
The previous poster was talking about a product he paid Sun for, from the paid offerings from Redhat, there is a statement of a guarantee of support for 5+ years for AW, EL or AS OS offerings.
Re:Forget China (Score:2)
I think he was referring to the RedHat 9 debacle where RedHat officially discontinued their Desktop line, and sent them all to the Fedora project. This forced anyone who wanted a supported Linux desktop to purchase RedHat Enterprise or find another vendor.
I don't think the situations are comparable, but it's at least fair to understand the reference properly.
How is Sun making any money these days? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:How is Sun making any money these days? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:How is Sun making any money these days? (Score:3, Informative)
But that's about all I see solaris good for lately. Everything else is run a lot cheaper and faster on linux.
Re:How is Sun making any money these days? (Score:2)
Re:How is Sun making any money these days? (Score:4, Informative)
http://www.sun.com/aboutsun/investor/earnings_rel
Sales of software, operating systems, Sparc and x86 servers, and providing services.
Sun still has cash for acquisitions - SeeBeyond (Score:2)
Re:How is Sun making any money these days? (Score:2)
Re:How is Sun making any money these days? (Score:2)
This move reminds me of (Score:2)
Re:This move reminds me of (Score:2)
Now we know what Microsoft's $2 billion bought. (Score:3, Funny)
I don't think Sun's leaving open source desktops. (Score:4, Insightful)
So, Sun had JDS which is derived from a distrtibution (Suse) that is not nice to GNOME (wtg, germans), and are giving up on it. No biggie, IMHO.
Novell quite strong in the desktop, actually. (Score:2)
I own SUN stock... (Score:2, Funny)
Makes perfect sense (Score:5, Interesting)
It makes sense too. They have a world class Unix based OS and it made little sense for them to just abandon it and move to Linux. If they are able to generate some interest in an open source Solaris, that might be a more sensible path forward for them
Re:Makes perfect sense (Score:2)
They haven't ditched Linux at all. They have cut back on desktop Linux. They will still be providing server-side Linux.
Re:Makes perfect sense (Score:2)
Re:Makes perfect sense (Score:2)
Unless
Re:Makes perfect sense (Score:2)
Kind of like x86 on Solaris. Look at how shitty this is...come to SPARC. When really, there is no fundamental reason that x86 solaris should be shitty.
Unfortunately, Linux had and is gaining too much momentum in the marketplace for this strategy to work. Sun is as good as dead. They get more irrelevant with each passing day.
JDS vs. Windows (Score:2)
Re:JDS vs. Windows (Score:2)
Read the article! Sun is de-emphasizing JDS on Linux. They are not pulling back from JDS or the desktop, they're just more gung-ho about it as an interface for solaris.
Besides, anyone who thinks that the Microsoft/Sun relationship is a "lovefest" doesn't know which way is up.
Big Surprise (Score:3, Interesting)
Anybody who thought the Java Desktop was a "real" Linux distro is nuts. Sun is a proprietary UNIX shop and never will be anything more.
They're doomed. Flee from their products (except Java which is being open-sourced whether they like it or not) like the plague.
"Open" Solaris will never develop the community Linux has, and Linux will match and exceed Solaris' capabilities within five years.
Sun is the "new" SCO. In five years, they'll be suing Linus for "copyright and patent violations".
Re:Big Surprise (Score:2)
Strange that they sell Linux, and almost all their products run on it.
We all saw it coming.. (Score:2)
It's not like I'm totally neurotic about the choice of kernel now that both are open - but Solaris is open more in principle rather than practice, because it's only developed & supported by one company. Others could join in, but it
JDS on Linux was only a stop-gap (Score:2)
Solaris x86 got ressurected to reverse declining sales of low-end servers, and when Opteron came along, S10 went 64-bit on x86, and got support for commodity hardware (NICs, graphics cards, laptop chipsets).
Keep Sun Java out of OpenOffice! (Score:2)
Now that we're finally out from under Microsoft Office, we don't want to be in a similar position with Sun. Users don't want Sun to be in a position to change the rules at a future time. That's the whole point of open
Re:Keep Sun Java out of OpenOffice! (Score:2)
And also any larger companies like RedHat, IBM, Novell and such probably affect gnome and Linux to.
This is becoming amusing (Score:3, Insightful)
They can't decide if Linux is an opportunity or a competitive threat.
The answer: It doesn't matter. You guys are doing a great job of killing your company all by yourself.
Who's steering that ship anyway?
just a bait and switch (Score:3, Insightful)
Hardly surprising.. (Score:3, Informative)
I mean, why even bother doing it if youre going to settle for half-assed - and then tell your customers upfront you want them to pay for half-assed...
Needless to say nobody present left the meeting feeling very excited about where Sun was going with JDS.
Personally, I think dumping Linux is an understandable move in the larger scheme of things - ultimately Solaris is the OS that Sun wants to see succeed, but signalling a lack of support in the JDS offering is baffling.
There is absolutely no reason why JDS shouldnt run on OpenSolaris and offer the same experience as Linux - it seems that Sun, having finally come to the realisation that an old version of GNOME (which is hardly flawless in it's latest iteration) is a tough sell, especially when compared side-by-side with highly polished offerings from Microsoft and Apple.
So, instead of doing something about the obvious flaws in their product - Or god forbid come up with something better - they publically throw in the towel, with a vague suggestion that they might decide to have another half-assed attempt at it in future.
I mean, GNOME and the rest of the Linux desktop is going to improve and will compete head-on with the best that the rest have to offer, and the day will come when Sun will have to try and re-enter the market with a revised offering and explain away this flip-flopping, which isn't going to be at all easy.
Does nobody at Sun get that this is a pathetic, embarrassing show of weakness?
Re:Not surprising at all (Score:2)
Re:Not surprising at all (Score:2)
I'm a C# person myself, so it's somewhat ironic being here defending Java, but hey, the truth is the truth.
Re:Not surprising at all (Score:2)
Re:Linux Is Getting Boring (Score:4, Interesting)
Perhaps Sun and Microsoft's new partnership with end with a melding of Solairs kernel with some sort of Microsoft added GUI akin to Apple and FreeBSD? As much as I dislike Microsoft, this could be a great product!
Re:Linux Is Getting Boring (Score:2)
Re:Linux Is Getting Boring (Score:2)
why when they have Looking Glass?
Re:Linux Is Getting Boring (Score:2)
Huh? (Score:2)
I'm not sure why the kernel's licensing need be relevant to the creation of a desktop system?
IMHO Linux is only just getting started (Score:3, Informative)
On a related note, IBM has, contrary to your claim of "jumping off", just posted an article [ibm.com] detailing the changes they will be contributing to Linux to take full advantage of the astonishing horsepower [ibm.com] of the Cell chip.
Re:Linux Is Getting Boring (Score:2)
AOL (Score:2)
(in konq)
Re:Sun changing its mind about Linux? (Score:2)
Re:Well duh (Score:2)
I am not sure how much of a market this is, the enterprise Unix desktop. Sun's announcement said they were going to concentrate on developers desktops, which makes sense, and they want developers to develop for Solaris. After all the alternative is simply to use any other Linux solution. Sun probably realised that they ont really have the expertise to really support Gnome and stuff, it isnt their core market.
Re:Would someone please... (Score:3, Insightful)
Actually, these partnerships work the other way. Microsoft rarely goes to the new platform or new hardware;