Newsgroups: comp.arch Path: utzoo!henry From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) Subject: Re: Sun's Competitive Strategy (Was: Re: P1754 Message-ID: <1990Nov23.181851.26588@zoo.toronto.edu> Organization: U of Toronto Zoology References: <1990Nov16.225515.494@zoo.toronto.edu> <6749@uceng.UC.EDU> <1990Nov21.174938.7861@zoo.toronto.edu> <6769@uceng.UC.EDU> Date: Fri, 23 Nov 90 18:18:51 GMT In article <6769@uceng.UC.EDU> dmocsny@minerva.che.uc.edu (Daniel Mocsny) writes: >>>I suspect that Sun realizes the only way to insure that it maintains >>>its superior manufacturing is to expose itself deliberately to >>>competition... > >>To be plausible, such theories should explain why Sun's earlier products >>remain cloaked in secrecy. > >While I hardly claim inside knowledge, I have read commentary suggesting >that Sun did not see its earlier systems competing against PC's, but >rather as addressing a separate market niche. Two factors have changed >this... So why haven't they changed Sun's policies regarding its older systems? As I've asked (rhetorically) before: what possible end can be served by the continuing secrecy regarding the insides of the Sun 2? One would expect secrecy about new systems but a more relaxed attitude about old ones. From Sun, if anything we are getting the reverse! This is why I suggest devious scheming or sheer irrationality as an explanation. >>My prediction: if/when SPARC (or S-bus) becomes a non-Sun-controlled >>standard, Sun will promptly announce SPARC II (S-bus II), with loud claims >>that it renders all the old stuff obsolete and is the obvious new standard. > >...I will be surprised if Sun tries to junk the existing standard, since >it is trying very hard to build up an applications library for the >SPARC... They won't junk it; they will pull an Intel, announcing a new standard that is a superset of the old one, rendering all the competitors' machines out of date without requiring a total software rewrite. -- "I'm not sure it's possible | Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology to explain how X works." | henry@zoo.toronto.edu utzoo!henry