Monday, September 29, 2003
Sun going the Dell way
Much has been written on the future of Sun Microsystems, most of it gloomy. The Economist has a very interesting story on Sun's plans.
This week, he unveiled Sun's newest offerings to firms and governments. Chief among them is a bundle of all the software layers needed to run server computers, at a price of $100 for each employee. This is indeed radical. Other software vendors price their products per microprocessor or per data entry.
Mr McNealy considers it insane that firms now assemble their computer data-centres as though they were making a jalopy from scratch by getting all the parts together (or, more realistically, by hiring consultants such as IBM to do it for them). Eventually, Mr McNealy believes, customers will buy complete systems, just as they buy complete cars. One day, he thinks, they will not even buy cars, but only take taxis—ie, tap into computing services through a web browser, just as many people already check e-mail through Hotmail.
This week, he unveiled Sun's newest offerings to firms and governments. Chief among them is a bundle of all the software layers needed to run server computers, at a price of $100 for each employee. This is indeed radical. Other software vendors price their products per microprocessor or per data entry.
Mr McNealy considers it insane that firms now assemble their computer data-centres as though they were making a jalopy from scratch by getting all the parts together (or, more realistically, by hiring consultants such as IBM to do it for them). Eventually, Mr McNealy believes, customers will buy complete systems, just as they buy complete cars. One day, he thinks, they will not even buy cars, but only take taxis—ie, tap into computing services through a web browser, just as many people already check e-mail through Hotmail.
