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From: kevinh@cmi.com (Kevin Hegg)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: Intel and Sun: from a MBA viewpoint
Message-ID: <8702@etsu.CMI.COM>
Date: 20 Feb 91 21:55:07 GMT
References: <30522@usc>
Sender: news@etsu.CMI.COM
Organization: EDS Corp - Center for Machine Intelligence
Lines: 40

> they have wonderful attitudes on openness etc.,

You mean they had a wonderful attitude. Looking at their recent actions 
regarding Unix, NFS, and window systems it looks to me that they want it 
their way or no way. Back in the days of the Sun 2 I used to think of Sun 
as THE open company, but not anymore.

> they do a tremendous job of SunOS

Yes, Sun has some sharp people doing good work, but so do a lot of the 
other Unix vendors. I would not rate SunOS as a tremendous job. It has no 
significant advantages over other Unix implementations. (uh oh, here come 
the religious flames). 

> they endup returning profits like $150e6 last quarter. Most probably 
> their highest profits ever too!

I wouldn't count Sun as a long time player yet. There are much bigger 
giants that have fallen (hard and fast). They got clobbered when they made 
their sudden transition from Motorola to SPARC. People just stopped buying 
for awhile. Apparently McNealy caused a minor uproar at the last Sun Users 
Group meeting when he threatened to abandon the early SPARC users as the 
SPARC technology progresses. Also, Sun has not reached the level of sales 
of Macs and PCs per year where they can be assured of survival due to the 
installed base.

> What is this story telling us?

Certain companies come into the position of having "sexy" products. If 
they can capitalize on this short-lived "sexiness" they have a chance for 
survival. IBM (and clones) did it with the PC. Apple did it with the Mac. 
It remains to be seen whether Sun or Next or MIPS can do it. Sexiness (in 
this context, of course) to me is some perceived or short-lived technical 
superiority which causes people to insist they have to get one of these 
products. And it is the fuel for all of these religious wars that are so 
common on the net.

Kevin Hegg, EDS Corp - Center for Machine Intelligence
2001 Commonwealth Blvd., Ann Arbor, Michigan 48105
Phone:   (313) 995-0900  Internet: kevinh@cmi.com    Applelink: D5990