So, now that Sun Microsystems has changed their ticker symbol from "SUNW" to "JAVA", they've agreed to be a Windows OEM. I remember when Silicon Graphics started shipping Windows on their machines; I thought, "Why bother buying an SGI machine anymore?" By shipping a commodity OS on their hardware, they are instantly placing themselves in direct competition with the other PC server vendors. The only two places they can compete are hardware and price. And they're big losers in the price wars. Contrast that strategy with Apple's. While there may be some small differences in hardware or price between Apple and Windows server vendors, the big differentiating factor is the software.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
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I could be wrong, but I think you have been able to order Windows machine from Sun a long time ago.
ReplyDeleteIn any case, it will be a bad day when Sun goes away. They are really an ok company. I can't agree with everything they do, and I certainly do not agree with what they did in the distant past... but they have come a long way.
Meanwhile, SGI was a joke. I recall that at the time you could order a very good PC for less than $2000, they still sold everything in the $50k+ range. I recall a prof. who bought a $50k machine and he had forgotten to specify he wanted a CD-Rom reader. After checking it out, it turns out that the CD-Rom reader was an extra $800.
There are very good reasons why SGI died. And price has something to do with it.
To be honest, I do not buy Sun hardware, but I hear it is quite affordable and have been affordable for quite some time. I once thought about ordering a Sun box but they would not cater to my international keyboard type.