Sun: Linux Users Don't Actually Want Linux
"Why do we think enthusiasm for Linux exists in the first place?" said Robert Youngjohns, executive vice president for global sales operations for Sun, speaking at the Bear Stearns 14th Annual Technology Conference here on Tuesday. "The enthusiasm isn't about Linux, it's about access to Intel and the ability to run Unix on what seems to be a cheaper platform."
But, while the platform is cheaper, Linux brings with it its own costs, including fragmentation of the operating system into multiple distributions, and cost of supporting the systems, Youngjohns said.
Youngjohns said he himself is a Linux enthusiast, and runs the operating system on PCs at home.
Sun is looking to provide Solaris on Intel to fill enterprises' demand for Intel Unix. When Sun announced its UltraSPARC architecture in 1995, it believed that enterprises would have moved entirely to 64-bit computing by 2003. That proved not to be the case; enterprises still have strong demand for 32-bit computing. Sun is looking to fill that demand with Solaris running on its own Intel servers, Youngjohns said. Many enterprise IT managers say they would not have adopted Linux if those Solaris on Intel products had been available 12-18 months ago, Youngjohns said.
Sun sees Linux as being part of the Unix market, unlike analysts who view the two markets as distinct and separate. Users coming to Linux from Unix know that Linux is another form of Unix, with the same command set, structure and applications. Sun intends to "play aggressively" in the Linux and Unix on Intel market. "If you go into that market, you have to be willing to make a big business of it," Youngjohns said. Sun views the platform as an opportunity to sell more services, and its Orion software stack, and to generate demand for higher end platforms.
But Kevin Thompson, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Linux vendor Red Hat, said he sees no demand among enterprise customers for Unix on Intel. He said the rate of innovation for Linux is much faster than Unix on Intel.
"Any CIO will tell you that they believe that the Linux platform will scale more rapidly over time and provide a lower cost infrastructure," Thompson said. "Unix vendors are trying to protect the high end."
The SCO-IBM lawsuit has registered only indirectly as a concern for customers, Youngjohns said. SCO sued IBM this year for $1 billion, charging that IBM stole SCO's Unix intellectual property for inclusion in Linux. Later, SCO sent a letter to about 1,500 big corporations warning that if they use SCO they, too, could be liable.
The lawsuit highlights concerns by users about the long-term maintainability of Linux, given that the code comes from multiple sources. As for the lawsuit itself, it's not showing up on customer radar, Youngjohns said. "Customers are aware of it but haven't yet thought through the implications of it," Youngjohns said.
Sun is changing its selling model to focus more on solving infrastructure problems, rather than selling products, Youngjohns said. "It may not sound like a significant change, but it's actually a profound change in how Sun operates in the field," he said.
*This story courtesy of Techweb.com.