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Oracle's Ellison considers netbook market foray

9 points by mshafrir 17y ago

tybris 17y ago
Nice to finally see a visionary in charge of Sun.
- GiraffeNecktie 17y ago
  Visionary? That's a nice way of putting it. I'm wondering what the hell's he smoking to give him this vision of Sun flogging the lowest of low end, low margin commodity PCs. How are they going to make any money and what good will it do for the positioning of the Sun brand?
  - axod 17y ago
    Well for a start, they could really champion Java on them. If they won with that, that would be a fantastic move - and it makes quite a bit of sense.
    - GiraffeNecktie 17y ago
      Makes sense in what way? I don't see any special synergy between Java and netbooks, certainly nothing that needs championing by Sun. If you need Java on your netbook - and most people don't - it's there already.
      - axod 17y ago
        It makes sense in terms of having a stable platform to deploy apps to. Java has worked pretty well on mobile phones. Imagine a netbook which just runs a java O/S. Maybe it has a java app store with all the apps you could ever want, and a kick ass browser.
- dmix 17y ago
  Ellison was a visionary with Network Computers in the 90s, although that failed to take off. Netbook's are a much safer bet now that many companies are already manufacturing them. It might be a good business move but I'd be hesitant to call that visionary.
seregine 17y ago
Oof. From the article: "I don't see why some of those devices shouldn't come from Sun," said Ellison, who runs the world's third-largest software maker. "There will be computers that are fundamentally based on Java." My first reaction: the Java environment will attract more enterprise devs than consumer devs. These netbooks won't be popular with consumers. My second reaction: enterprise netbooks? Sounds like a lot of money to be made, and the margins could be lifted by support contracts, bundling with expensive software, etc. Oracle netbooks as remote consoles for DBAs, for example.
- access_denied 17y ago
  And once all those corporate dudes have those JBooks around all the time, you have a market for consumer apps. Like when PC gaming established itself.
noss 17y ago
Do either Sun or Oracle have the design know-how to pull this off? I get the feeling they're making products that are as sexy as a boxy volvo. Reliable but... boring.
- olefoo 17y ago
  Not at all. The Sun netbooks will be beige, with purple corners! And they will run on Java http://electronicdesign.com/Articles/ArticleID/4841/4841.html http://electronicdesign.com/Articles/ArticleID/4841/4841.htm...
patrickg-zill 17y ago
Actually a netbook package with just enough smarts to connect to Wifi, plus VPN + Sun Ray software, would be great at expanding their Sun Ray installed base. Sun Ray users who use them at home say everything is zippy even over 256kbps connections.

9 points by mshafrir 17y ago

tybris 17y ago

Nice to finally see a visionary in charge of Sun.

GiraffeNecktie 17y ago
Visionary? That's a nice way of putting it. I'm wondering what the hell's he smoking to give him this vision of Sun flogging the lowest of low end, low margin commodity PCs. How are they going to make any money and what good will it do for the positioning of the Sun brand?
- axod 17y ago
  Well for a start, they could really champion Java on them. If they won with that, that would be a fantastic move - and it makes quite a bit of sense.
  - GiraffeNecktie 17y ago
    Makes sense in what way? I don't see any special synergy between Java and netbooks, certainly nothing that needs championing by Sun. If you need Java on your netbook - and most people don't - it's there already.
    - axod 17y ago
      It makes sense in terms of having a stable platform to deploy apps to. Java has worked pretty well on mobile phones. Imagine a netbook which just runs a java O/S. Maybe it has a java app store with all the apps you could ever want, and a kick ass browser.
dmix 17y ago
Ellison was a visionary with Network Computers in the 90s, although that failed to take off. Netbook's are a much safer bet now that many companies are already manufacturing them. It might be a good business move but I'd be hesitant to call that visionary.

seregine 17y ago

Oof. From the article: "I don't see why some of those devices shouldn't come from Sun," said Ellison, who runs the world's third-largest software maker. "There will be computers that are fundamentally based on Java." My first reaction: the Java environment will attract more enterprise devs than consumer devs. These netbooks won't be popular with consumers. My second reaction: enterprise netbooks? Sounds like a lot of money to be made, and the margins could be lifted by support contracts, bundling with expensive software, etc. Oracle netbooks as remote consoles for DBAs, for example.

access_denied 17y ago
And once all those corporate dudes have those JBooks around all the time, you have a market for consumer apps. Like when PC gaming established itself.

noss 17y ago

Do either Sun or Oracle have the design know-how to pull this off? I get the feeling they're making products that are as sexy as a boxy volvo. Reliable but... boring.

olefoo 17y ago
Not at all. The Sun netbooks will be beige, with purple corners! And they will run on Java http://electronicdesign.com/Articles/ArticleID/4841/4841.html http://electronicdesign.com/Articles/ArticleID/4841/4841.htm...

patrickg-zill 17y ago

Actually a netbook package with just enough smarts to connect to Wifi, plus VPN + Sun Ray software, would be great at expanding their Sun Ray installed base. Sun Ray users who use them at home say everything is zippy even over 256kbps connections.