Sun Commits to Lame x86

Nate Orenstam
Thursday, November 14, 2002

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(Highway View, Calif.)  Sun Microsystems, in an apparent about face, has committed to updating their flagship operating system Solaris 9 for the Intel x86 architecture. Sun first released the Intel version of Solaris in 1995 with much fanfare but limited market acceptance. With this new release of Solaris 9, Sun expects to double market share; both users are reportedly very happy.

"We're glad to see Sun make good on their commitment to Intel," said Timmy Groanalot, spokesman for the Save Solaris x86 Dungeons and Dragons Society. "I'm definitely going to save up for this release! Now if only we can get the Commodore 64 platform on Intel, we're going to kick butt at LAN parties."

In recent months, Sun backpedaled on their commitment to Solaris on Intel because of the low adoption of the platform. "Frankly, we'd forgotten all about it," said John Lothario Vice President of Obsolescence at Sun. "There were a couple of guys working on this in Fremont, but we had closed the building and forgot to tell them. Good thing we kept the power and air going."

With Solaris for Intel, Sun is attempting to provide a broader range of support at the low-end of the market to stave off Windows XP. "We believe Intel is a great platform for Solaris" said Lothario. "Especially for non-mission critical applications where slower hardware works best."

Free Software?

Sun has recently also announced the LX50 series of Intel based Linux servers. "We have focused on adding value to Linux," Lothario said. "There are so many commodity Linux boxes around we don't even have to manufacture them. We just buy 'em off eBay and add our own Sun stickers." The LX50 includes a full complement of SunONE software. "We are totally committed to Linux as a platform for communist academics who don't need reliability," Lothario said.

By including the SunONE software stack, Sun hopes to increase adoption of it's software platform and applications. "We think software should definitely be free," Lothario said. "But hardware, that's another story."

About the author
Nate Orenstam is a leading J2EE programmer and a member of the Fremont Area Solaris 80x86 User's Group.