In making his decision of whether to release Visual Studio 2005 before its ready, Microsofts CSA should take a look at the recent success of new partner, Sun. Sun has endured a hammering in the high-end server marketplace as only IBM and some HP product lines have managed to survive the move to Linux/Windows and the Intel/AMD x86 architectures. Note I say the Intel/AMD architecture because for the move to 64bit computing, AMDs Athlon and Opteron 64 bit designs have literally set the standard.
So Sun has had to respond and deliver Solaris 10 as Open Source on both Sparc and Intel/AMD x86 ready at the sametime. Meanwhile Solaris 10 is earning kudos from reviewers as diverse as Alan Zeicheck and TheMadPenguin as the enterprise server software system of choice for reliability, security, scalability and the fundamental “ts” required to do enterprise computing properly. But Sun took a beating because it refused to release Solaris 10 before it was ready – and finally did have to back off the new file system for later inclusion in a point release.
The same scene has played out in the Java world where Sun, in the process of shepherding the Java Community Process, has had to bend over backwards to give “partners” leeway in developing Java product.
Well, Bill, Suns boat may finally be coming in. No less than GM is signing up for 320,000 seats of Java Enterprise System. And GE is signing on too. And Solaris is part of the action. So holding out for TRUE Trustworthy Computing can have its rewards.
(c) JBSurveyer 2005