Sun tells me I don't really like Linux after all...

I found out today that I don't like Linux. I actually like Intel. I tolerate Linux because it runs on the x86 platform.

For a long time, I thought I liked Linux because it was robust, free, had tons of programs and ran on just about any piece of hardware I had. I thought it was a better deal than an $7,995 entry-level Sun box with 1 processor, 512 MB of RAM and a 36 gig drive.

But fortunately a VP from Sun has cleared up my confusion. A comparable Linux box just "seems to be a cheaper platform". If anyone else here still thinks they like Linux, read the following article and be enlightened:

http://www.crn.com/components/Nl/di...ArticleID=42570

while i admit that you can like what you wish, note that solaris runs on x86 jim dandy and is virtually free (cost of media). also note that if you're planning on scaling yr operaton to biblical sizes you may want to start on the solaris path now to save you having to convert everything from linux later on when you need that 40 cpu machine.

ahh, screw it, just use the already existing and proven (pick your flavor)BSD which also runs on multiple architectures.
SUN is just playing catch-up and trying to scare people just like M$ has tried to do.
I don't generally have anything against SUN but these tacktics sound similar.

I like Solaris/SunOS and Sparc just fine - save for the fact that you can't run any version of PHP higher than 4.2 on them.



And Solaris for Intel is available, and works well, its just not 'free as in beer' unless you're running it as a personal whatever-its-doing, not in an enterprise.

hehe - agree with sun in some respects. But, do as onslaught said and go with bsd and be done with it...

Who says you need to move off Linux to scale to huge, powerhouse architectures?
http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=6440

Upcoming kernel versions are beginning to target the scaling capabilities of Linux to finally make it more tempting to the 5% of the enormous corporations out there who can actually justify buying such a monstrous system setup as an array of SPARCs:
http://www.esj.com/news/article.asp?editorialsId=495

Sun, like Microsof, is just another dying dinosaur... they've picked a sort of silly market position (pointing 64-bit processors at everyone instead of the few who really need them) and now they're flapping their wings to try and make it fly. They gambled on the 64-bit system in the 90s and lost - face it - with SMP using 32-bit processers, there's really little need to use UltraSPARCs in most applications. The same goes for Itanium, actually. I don't forsee Itanium gaining much ground in the near future. People are happy with 32-bit for now. I'm sure in the future something will come along to revolutionize things and at that time 64-bit processing will become the de facto standard. 32-bits will be relegated to junk heaps and desktops.

I was actually being a little facetious with my post. I think it's funny when someone tells me what I do and do not like. "The enthusiasm isn't about Linux, it's about access to Intel..." struck me as ironic since I have more instances of Linux running on my s390 mainframes than I do an x86. After pricing a few Sun servers the comment "...on what seems to be a cheaper platform" has a certain humor as well.

I've used Sun boxes with Oracle and MySQL and they're great machines. However I sometimes find Sun's Linux-bashing to be a bit ludicrous. I don't find their arguments against the use of Linux to be very compelling. "Linux brings with it its own costs, including fragmentation of the operating system into multiple distributions..." doesn't send me running to Sun. I use SuSE on everything. That's one distribution for x86, s390 and PowerPC. If Sun wants me to embrace them wholeheartedly, they need to change their mindset and rhetoric a bit. Sometimes their arguments are as goofy as Microsoft's.

I would never argue that Linux is a one-size-fits-all solution. If I had any indication that the need for a 40-cpu machine was in my future, I would definitely factor this into my calculations when determining the most appropriate OS/hardware combination for the project. Fortunately, the vast majority of my database projects are well within the capabilities of Linux (I tend to have a lot of medium size projects instead of a few monsters). Currently, I find Linux's capabilites growing faster than the needs of my databases so I haven't reached that breakpoint where I've said "I wish I done this with a Sun box instead".

This was in todays RedHat newsletter "Under The Brim":
RedHat and Sun anounce global partnership