Sun and Apple partnership

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Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,3959,1210889,00.asp



As for the Apple connection, Schwartz (executive vice-president of Sun's software group) said that the practically every Sun employee owns an Apple desktop at home. "We would love to partner with Apple,' he said. "They're everyone's favorite company, and iTunes is really cool."
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  • Reply 1 of 21
    ast3r3xast3r3x Posts: 5,012member
    Psh, what a suck up
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  • Reply 2 of 21
    I for one ...welcome our new Snapple overlords
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  • Reply 3 of 21
    placeboplacebo Posts: 5,767member
    Pixar just dropped sun. Why would Sun be so happy? Do they think that by complementing Apple like hell, they'll get back into Pixar?
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  • Reply 4 of 21
    yevgenyyevgeny Posts: 1,148member
    Solaris, though probably the most feature packed Unix out there is a really lousy end user experience. Solaris rules on massively MP systers that run 24/7. Not surprisingly, Sun employees really hate MS, and so when they want a desktop OS, they only have two options: Apple or Linux. If you had to work on Solaris all day, then you would probably want something that just works (in contrast to the unique quirks of Linux). Sometimes computer geeks want a machine that is just going to get the job done and is reliable. Add to that the fact that Apple's designs are second to none and you can start to see why Sun employees like Apple- it isn't MS (and it isn't Intel- Sun doesn't like them either) and it works.



    Having said all that, I can't imagine what Sun and Apple would do together. Their markets are so completely orthogonal (going in different directions) that I don't see what they would team up on. Better Solaris compatibility in OS X? Better OS X compatibility in Solaris? Maybe Sun will help Apple write a better Java environment? I don't see what they would do together. Sun isn't going to resell OS X Server. Sun is aimed squarely at the server marketplace because that is what they do well. Apple is aimed squarely at the desktop marketplace because that is what they do well. Aside from the fact that both companies sell a flavor of Unix, there isn't all that much in common (aside from a loathing of MS).



    So some people think that Apple and Sun should merge. I think that this is a bad idea because where they could offer a comprehensive Unix environment, not too many people really want that (expensive computers in the server room, yes, but expensive computers on each desktop? No). Worse still, I think that Sun and Apple would fight over each others revenue. Analysts are always looking down on a potential Apple and Sun merger, and as a Sun shareholder, I would look down on it as well (and as a Mac enthusiast, I don't want Apple to get distracted). The gains aren't very clear and it would greatly sacrifice the fact that right now both companies can completely devote themselves to the markets that they understand and do well in.
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  • Reply 5 of 21
    robsterrobster Posts: 256member
    Just my guesses...



    Apple offer Solaris on XServe option

    Sun Server/Apple Client corporate bundles

    Sun take on Aqua porting of OpenOffice



    Maybe a larger scale thing where Apple and Sun offer a complete business package including hardware, OS, software and groupware...
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  • Reply 6 of 21
    yevgenyyevgeny Posts: 1,148member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by robster

    Just my guesses...



    Apple offer Solaris on XServe option

    Sun Server/Apple Client corporate bundles

    Sun take on Aqua porting of OpenOffice



    Maybe a larger scale thing where Apple and Sun offer a complete business package including hardware, OS, software and groupware...




    A Solaris liscense would cost a significant portion of the cost of an XServe. Xserve is a baby server (I'm not dissing it, it is just an entry level server). Solaris is for grown up servers that charge a grown up price.



    Companies don't want Macs on the desktop. Macs are too expensive. (I think that Macs win in TCO, but coroprate bean counters like to go with what is a "safe" bet).



    Sun doing an Aqua port of Open Office would be really nice, but they would do this anyway since I imagine that quite a few Sun employees use Open Office on the Mac. Sun already promotes Open Office.





    BTW, how is this future hardware?
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  • Reply 7 of 21
    chinneychinney Posts: 1,019member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by madmax559

    I for one ...welcome our new Snapple overlords



    Riffing off of one of my favourite lines of all time from that show. Good one.
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  • Reply 8 of 21
    h4wkh4wk Posts: 11member
    I was an SSE for SUN for over 4 years and I had never seen a Mac in any of their offices. They even issued us Toshiba laptops duel booting Solaris X86 and Winblows 98. SUN is going nowhere but away because of cost of ownership. Enough said SUN can goto server hell.



    Look at their stock price ............
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  • Reply 9 of 21
    yevgenyyevgeny Posts: 1,148member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by H4wk

    Look at their stock price ............



    Yeah, but I bought their stock when it was $3.50 a share.



    I don't know why walstreet hates Sun. Sun makes money. They have a good product. Lately I have noticed that alot of the "beleagured" talk has switched from Apple to Sun. Both Apple and Sun are doing well in a down marketplace, but of course both of them will fall before Dell (yeah right).
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  • Reply 10 of 21
    eric_zeric_z Posts: 175member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Yevgeny

    Having said all that, I can't imagine what Sun and Apple would do together.



    If you are going to belive some of the SUN forums out there,

    Solaris 10 will eventually ship with an Aqua GUI...



    Not to mention this:



    Quote:

    Just a question. Apple is doing testing with Solaris X for the Xserve but the

    word is that there are still serious boot problems. The OSX gui is being

    ported for the clients and who knows what else. Can we expect to see the OSX

    gui on Solaris anytime soon?



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  • Reply 11 of 21
    amorphamorph Posts: 7,112member
    Moving to General Discussion.
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  • Reply 12 of 21
    yevgenyyevgeny Posts: 1,148member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Eric_Z

    If you are going to belive some of the SUN forums out there,

    Solaris 10 will eventually ship with an Aqua GUI...



    Not to mention this:




    Well, if they want Solaris to have the aqua GUI, then why are they investing in KDE (or was it Gnome)? How many GUI's does Sun need? Besides, the Aqua GUI is married to the innards of OSX in a very monogamous relationship. Yes, you can use Aqua without QE, but we all know how much CPU time that consumes. Sun users like to let their CPUs do something other than render transparent windows. Aqua isn't a GUI shell on top of an OS- it is a GUI that is very well integrated with a particular OS (hence why it is good, in contrast to something like FVWM).
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  • Reply 13 of 21
    eric_zeric_z Posts: 175member
    @Yevgeny

    I'm just restating what has allredy been said on on the

    Sun forums I visit.



    Quote:

    KDE (or was it Gnome)?



    It's Gnome not KDE, even though you can use KDE if you like,

    and don't mind the extra hassel of setting it up.



    Quote:

    How many GUI's does Sun need?



    I don't know, do you?

    And why is it such a impossibly that SUN would like to

    have an Aqua-like GUI, even if they choose to keep Gnome?

    The more tools you have the better, no?
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  • Reply 14 of 21
    yevgenyyevgeny Posts: 1,148member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Eric_Z

    I don't know, do you?

    And why is it such a impossibly that SUN would like to

    have an Aqua-like GUI, even if they choose to keep Gnome?

    The more tools you have the better, no?




    No. More tools are only better if they do different things. That way, you don't wind up using a hammer as a wrench. If the tools all do the same thing, then you are just fragmenting limited resources (like someone who buys a dozen identical hammers for his home). Is Gnome sufficiently different from Aqua? Not that I am aware (Aqua seems to be much better from what I have seen of one of my roomates Linux desktop).



    The Sun admins that I know don't really want the super detailed Aqua GUI. They are command line kind of people. Of ocurse, they like the Aqua GUI, but for them it would just get in the way. Yes, Sun could liscense the Aqua GUI from Apple. This would be good for Apple because they could get some extra revenue and make Aqua more of a standard. I don't know if it buys Sun very much aside from a pretty GUI, but people really don't buy Solaris for its usability- they buy it for its functionality and its reliability.
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  • Reply 15 of 21
    eric_zeric_z Posts: 175member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Yevgeny

    Is Gnome sufficiently different from Aqua? Not that I am

    aware (Aqua seems to be much better from what I have seen of

    one of my roomates Linux desktop).




    It's slow, very crash prone (running on a SUN Blade 150 using

    Solaris 9) and does not play in the same divison of ease of use as Aqua,

    if that's what you mean?



    Quote:

    The Sun admins that I know don't really want the super

    detailed Aqua GUI. They are command line kind of people.

    Of curse, they like the Aqua GUI, but for them it would just

    get in the way.




    Precisely, the point of Gnome, and perhaps later on Aqua,

    is to attract home computer users. Who needs/wants a more intuetive

    GUI then CDE and demands a GUI that's it's been frozen in time

    sice 1994. CDE would of course still be there.



    And CDE is not a good thing for everybody that currently

    uses SUN boxes, the uni that I go to allmost only uses SUN

    boxes, needles to say a more intuetive GUI would do a lot

    for some people.
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  • Reply 16 of 21
    yevgenyyevgeny Posts: 1,148member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Eric_Z

    It's slow, very crash prone (running on a SUN Blade 150 using

    Solaris 9) and does not play in the same divison of ease of use as Aqua,

    if that's what you mean?




    Precisely! Of course, there are no guarantees that an Aqua port will work better unless Apple devotes lots of $ to the project.



    Quote:

    [Precisely, the point of Gnome, and perhaps later on Aqua,

    is to attract home computer users. Who needs/wants a more intuetive

    GUI then CDE and demands a GUI that's it's been frozen in time

    sice 1994. CDE would of course still be there.



    And CDE is not a good thing for everybody that currently

    uses SUN boxes, the uni that I go to allmost only uses SUN

    boxes, neddles to say a more intuetive GUI would do a lot

    for some people.




    I can't visualize the Solaris home user. I that it is easier to think of the Aqua enterprise user than the Solaris home user. Trying to think of a soccer mom using Solaris on a Sparc with an Aqua GUI to write an email makes my head hurt.
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  • Reply 17 of 21
    stoostoo Posts: 1,490member
    No-one in my family wants to use my Sparc 4 or 5.



    Probably partly due to the lack of OS. (Sun, why is it so hard to boot one of these beasts from a third party SCSI CD drive?)
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  • Reply 18 of 21
    voxappsvoxapps Posts: 236member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Yevgeny

    Not surprisingly, Sun employees really hate MS, and so when they want a desktop OS, they only have two options: Apple or Linux.



    I know several Sun employees in various sales and support groups - people who travel out of the office on Sun's behalf. They all have Sun-provided laptop PCs running Windows and MS Office. Of course, they all have Solaris and Star Office running on their office desktops, but that isn't a practical portable solution.



    BTW, they universally refer to Star Office as "Star Awful".
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  • Reply 19 of 21
    eric_zeric_z Posts: 175member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Yevgeny

    Precisely! Of course, there are no guarantees that an Aqua port will work better unless Apple devotes lots of $ to the project.



    It's still a better base to stand on IMHO, lets see if SUN and

    Apple thinks the same.





    Quote:

    I can't visualize the Solaris home user. I that it is easier to think of the Aqua enterprise user than the Solaris home user. Trying to think of a soccer mom using Solaris on a Sparc with an Aqua GUI to write an email makes my head hurt.



    The scenario Apple would want here's something in the lines

    of; famely uses Wintelbox, gets paranoid over viruses and

    want to change OS (cheap), but they don't want the expence

    of buying a new computer and they do not want a downgrade in

    support. So the famely decides to download Solaris

    (Apple gets a licence fee) and gets acustomed to Aqua.

    Afer a while they want a new computer so they go to the

    lokal Best Buy store and look around, and there they see

    a Mac running that familiar GUI. So they talk to one of the

    sales persons and learns that OSX while looking and working

    allmost the same as Solaris(with Aqua) is far, far less

    cumbresome to use, the famely buys a Mac never to look back.



    P.S



    @JLL



    just do a quick search on the site I linked to,

    there ought to be 6-10 topics to choose from.
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  • Reply 20 of 21
    jlljll Posts: 2,713member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Eric_Z

    If you are going to belive some of the SUN forums out there,

    Solaris 10 will eventually ship with an Aqua GUI...



    Not to mention this:




    Do you have more about this? I don't trust anything posted on April 1
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