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I really don't want to instigate a flamewar, but think for a second about the dogmatic bias required to create a slogan such as "GPL-incompatible". This is a p
by flomo 16y ago
I really don't want to instigate a flamewar, but think for a second about the dogmatic bias required to create a slogan such as "GPL-incompatible".
This is a pot-kettle situation if there ever was one.
- rbanffy 16y agoNot really. The effect of Sun licensing dtrace, ZFS and others as GPL-compatible would make Linux more competitive with Sun's Solaris. That's clearly undesirable. Sun faces a lot of competition from IBM and HP, both with offers to migrate to AIX/HP-UX and to Linux on x86 hardware. Enhancing Linux was a big no-no for them.
- nailer 16y ago> The effect of Sun licensing dtrace, ZFS and others as GPL-compatible would make Linux more competitive with Sun's Solaris. Yes > That's clearly undesirable Why? Sun's been bleeding customers towards Red Hat and (to a far greater extent) Novell since the early 2000s. Holding onto the Solaris/SPARC combo in the hope the high end customers would the be last to leave (which they were, but sooner than Sun expected) killed the company.
- rbanffy 16y ago> Holding onto the Solaris/SPARC combo in the hope the high end customers would the be last to leave (which they were, but sooner than Sun expected) killed the company. Giving Dell all the tools to fight SPARC/Solaris effectively would only kill it faster. As a high-end hardware manufacturer, they were pressed from below by Linux on cheap x86 hardware. One possible solution would be to press back with SPARC/Solaris hardware at x86 prices. Sticking to the high-end may be a good strategy, but that's why IBM does not make an x86 version of zOS. And that's why they lawyer to shreds anyone who tries to sell and support zOS on emulated zSeries hardware.
- nailer 16y agoSun customers knew and trusted Sun. If they had matched Red Hat and HP/Dell's prices (which they have had to anyway) and actually made Solaris something pleasant to use (like a modern-day Nexenta, but in say 2004/2005) I think the company would still be alive.
- nailer 16y agoAlso: Sun never had the opportunity to sue anyone else who made a competing Unix-like OS. If they did, then sure, IBM-type tactic would have certainly held off their competitors.