[cobalt-users] Re: cobalt-users digest, Vol 1 #1448 - 13 msgs

[Alfredo <alfredo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> Message: 9
> From: "Lyle Scheer" <lyle@xxxxxxxxxx>
> To: <cobalt-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: RE: [cobalt-users] Sun Solaris???  Bad Business Decision
> Date: Wed, 4 Oct 2000 17:01:24 -0700
> Reply-To: cobalt-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
> Heh,
>
> 	I find it somewhat amusing how far off the deep end some of 
> you are going
> because of a comment from a Sun executive who is deeply invested in the
> Solaris operating system.

I'm not sure it IS going off the deep end, Lyle, because this 
executive is the Vice President who was speaking for the company on 
Operating System issues. Sure, Sun hasn't made final announcements 
but a public statement like the one he made certainly raises issues 
people should be concerned about now. NOW, before final plans are 
made, is one of the best times to influence a company like Sun. I 
think they need feedback and I think they may even be seeking it with 
a statement like that one. Something you allude to when you talk 
about "shaking up" some of their thinking.


> 	Have you considered that Sun purchased Cobalt because Cobalt could do
> something that Sun could not?

I think that's certainly part of the picture, tied with a strategy to 
eliminate competitors in certain market sectors. But yeah, they think 
Cobalt's gonna grow as a useful technology and I think they're right. 
While folks have lots of criticisms of Cobalt, as do I, they have 
done some pretty amazing things with the Raq box and they have, in 
fact, been responsive to problems through their upgrade and update 
strategies. I mean, they may not respond from tech support, but 
someone there IS listening.

MY question is where Sun sees Cobalt's value as a technology? Our 
attraction to it isn't, for instance, that it's small, that it comes 
"set up" out of the box or even that it has a GUI -- because we hack 
lots of the set up anyway and I'm in our servers through Telnet every 
day. LOL We like it because it bundles DNS capabilities with email 
and web functions and that is a huge help for a small provider. It 
really gives lots of flexibility immediately to us. Does Sun see it 
that way? I'm not sure at all.

> 	A good article I saw today can be found here:
> http://www.infoworld.com/articles/op/xml/00/10/02/001002oppetreley.xml


It's a good article and well considered. It is also, however, 
predicated on Petreley's belief that this purchase is "an implicit 
endorsement of Linux" and I ain't ready to go there with him just 
yet. I've yet to see any evidence from the company that they're 
committed to continuing the use and support of Linux in the Raq and, 
if they're not, they're going to strand a lot of people who make 
their living with these things.

But anyway, I appreciate your two cents because it's true that we 
need to consider all these matters. Thanks.

Alfredo
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