As expected, my column in the January issue of Baseline did not go over well with some folks at Sun Microsystems. Maybe it was the headline. In any case, Sun sent me the PR love note I've posted below. I've put it here on my blog for the purpose of extending this conversation between Sun and me out to you–does Sun's response reflect how you perceive them?

From: “Sabrina Guttman”
Date: Mon Feb 3, 2003 2:33:25 PM US/Eastern
To: sean@dendro.com
Subject: Comments on “Partial Eclipse of the Sun…”

Hi Sean —

I am writing to you in response to your recent article in the January issue of Baseline entitled “Partial Eclipse of the Sun; Intel and Linux Have Driven Sun to Switch Strategies. Should You Buy it?” In your article, you claim Sun is being forced to switch strategies away from “proprietary” hardware platforms in the face of increased pressure from Intel and Linux. I would like to point out that Sun is a *systems* company which means we sell the best hardware and software solutions to meet our customers' needs at every level of their IT infrastructure.

To your point that Sun's hardware is “proprietary,” the UltraSPARC family of processors are one of the industry's ONLY open systems processors as they are designed on the open architecture and standards set by SPARC International, Inc.[tm] — an independent, non-profit organization. Unlike Intel, Sun builds compatibility into its entire line of server products. This means ISVs can port their applications onto different generations of UltraSPARC without having to recompile them and customers can mix and match processor speeds for the best investment protection in the industry.

Furthermore, might I remind you that UNIX, like Linux, is based on the X/Open 1170 Standard and our Solaris Operating Environment is the best implementation of that standard in the INDUSTRY. The reason our competitors are flocking to Linux is that they failed in creating the robust operating environment we have been offering our customers for years.

Sun is all about open choice and open standards and that's why over 12,000 business applications are currently readily available on our SPARC/Solaris platform. Can Lintel manufacturers say as much? Sun is also about innovation and providing value to our customers and that's why we are now offering Solaris and Linux on x86 architectures at the edge of the network where it makes the most sense.

Please let me know if you would like to speak with us further about any of these points or just generally about Sun's strategy.

Regards,
Sabrina Guttman

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Sabrina Guttman
Sun Microsystems, Inc.
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