Tell me what their unification is. You can run software you wrote for WebSphere on one system or on another. Software you compiled for Linux, you can shift it around more easily than you could for AIX vs. z/OS. You could write Web sites or other business transaction systems written with Web services standards and move them more easily from one IBM system to another. It doesn't worry me because the cost of porting is negligible compared to the cost of qualifying. You can run Linux on a mainframe, but guess what? You're going to emulate it, then you're going to run it on a custom emulation virtual machine on a custom z/OS on a custom microprocessor that I can't even name. What's the biggest challenge you face right now?
Having 5,000 people who are all incredibly passionate about what they've been doing for the last two years. But?
Needing to get 5,000 people passionate about what my staff wants them to do for the next two to three years. If the focus is on integrated hardware and software, what happens to the versions of Sun One software for HP-UX, Windows, for example?
So long as customers want them, we're going to keep delivering them. What percentage go onto non-Solaris computers?
The high was probably in the mid-20s, and now it's probably in the low teens at best. Do you like Apache (the Web server software that competes with Sun's own package)?
We ship more Apache than any other company. It's part of Solaris. Is it a better idea to throw your weight behind Apache than the (Sun ONE) Web server?
While it's still a very healthy business and customers are willing to pay us for the value addition, why not? We have no problem embracing both. What changes do you expect under the new Schwartz era in the software business at Sun?
A much stronger degree of alignment and integration among all our products. I think we have been individually innovative, but not as innovative at a systems level. We have an extraordinary breadth of assets, unparalleled in the industry, even by Microsoft. We go way down below where they are, we go way up above where they are. The challenge for us is to go deliver those as solutions (rather than isolated packages). For example?
For example, when we talk about an identity solution (software to track computer users' identities such as login names), it's not integrated just with our directory, it's with clustering so we have a highly available network identity solution -- with JavaCard so we have microprocessor smart card element of a network identity solution, with the Portal Server so we have a network identity enabled single sign-on portal solution.
Have your say instantly in the Tech Update forum.
Find out what's where in the new Tech Update with our Guided Tour.
Let the editors know what you think in the Mailroom.
