Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD)

[I_banker]

The only thing the IPF/Power port announcement indicates is that Sun is thinking longer term and they realize that Linux may well improve to the point that Unix is dead. What they are trying to do is reunify Unix (under the Solaris brand) and put it forth as a better alternative to Linux. They are trying to do this before Linux catches and while they can leverage their reputation with large corporates.

I think they will support this "Solaris everywhere" effort with an open source version of Solaris. They will probably use the Sun License or something similar, but definitely not the GPL.

This will tap into a huge pool of developer talent, parrticularly as it applies to Power/IPF/Alpha/PA-RISC type chips, to whom they can offload the majority of the porting and maintenance work.

I think Sun believes they can offer a Solaris product for the same cost as Red Hat Linux, but which is far superior and that entrprise customers will flock to it.