Solaris 11 dropping much hardware support

[SAQ]

This just came over rescue: Solaris 11 will be dropping a good deal of hardware. I was expecting that they'd drop SBus support, but Oracle's gone all IBM/Apple and are dropping support for all UltraSPARC II, III and IV processors.

I guess the good news is that there might be more US-III and IV machines in circulation within the next couple of years.

[PymbleSoftware]

I have had problems getting OpenIndiana to even boot on a hand full of x86 stuff around the house... The only machine it does seem to run on lacks RAM and disk..

R.

[D-EJ915]

Probably won't run on my Sparc64-V either :/

[vishnu]

The downward spiral accelerates...

[skywriter]

this sells more hardware and pushes customer into higher maintenance costs. Sun was too good to customers; it's why they lost in the long run.

[zmttoxics]

Weird that they would do that since S11x still works... I wonder if its just a "not officially supported" kind of deal....

[SAQ]

Weird that they would do that since S11x still works... I wonder if its just a "not officially supported" kind of deal....

Not sure - I guess it depends how many people they can get to buy new hardware with empty threats and official nonsupport vs. actually taking it out, and an analysis of how much it costs to go either way from here.

[ianj]

this sells more hardware and pushes customer into higher maintenance costs. Sun was too good to customers; it's why they lost in the long run.

No kidding. The shop I worked for during Sun's last days was getting something like a 60% educational discount on everything. Apparently their sales reps got commissions based on units sold rather than profits.

[skywriter]

Most people were in deep denial concerning Oracle's prerogatives when Oracle first bought Sun.

[kjaer]

I have nothing to add to that.

[SAQ]

Most people were in deep denial concerning Oracle's prerogatives when Oracle first bought Sun.

Not sure about that, but I think that many people were aware of their intent (try to turn it back into a moneymaking operation). Dropping USIV surprised me a bit because it would seem that there was plenty of money to be made there between service and $2k/year/socket Solaris licenses, compared to an operation such as Apple who makes most their money off of hardware sales. In the case of $30 for an upgrade there, dropping support for HW as soon as possible makes sense to drive the HW market.

Regarding prerogatives, so far they've been a bit better than HP in that it isn't obviously a "buy and bury" operation.

[kurkosdr]

So, let me get this straight: There are currently NO sparc workstations that can run the latest version of Solaris?

This is why corporations shouldn't be allowed to be bought by larger corporations, unless they are bankrupt. Just because that last CEO of Sun got tired and wanted to retire, an entire computer category was lost.

[skywriter]

Oh well. You can always run Linux on them. I've heard from a a reputable source that it's AWESOME!!!!!!

Honestly, Sun was next bankrupt anyway. John Schwartz was a misfit CEO. Ponytail? Give me break. He probably still has that peach fuzz mustache kids grow in their teens.

[SAQ]

So, let me get this straight: There are currently NO sparc workstations that can run the latest version of Solaris?

This is why corporations shouldn't be allowed to be bought by larger corporations, unless they are bankrupt. Just because that last CEO of Sun got tired and wanted to retire, an entire computer category was lost.

And it would be better how if there were no Sun at all and no Solaris? Sun was well on the way to bankruptcy.

We haven't lost anything over that alternative.

[kurkosdr]

Can i ask some more things?

1) Will Solaris 11 boot on Sun Ultra 1500/2500 and Sun Ultra 25/45? When i first read this topic i assumed not, but then i thought it might boot but "not be officially supported", which is still sad news, bad not as much as not being able to boot at all.

2) Programmers who want a desktop system with binary compatibility with sparc big iron are going to be pissed in case Solaris 11 doesn't boot on sparc workstations, right? Is Elison trying to kill sparc?

3) Will Solaris 11 code be released as OpenSolaris? If so, and in case Solaris 11 doesn't boot on sparc workstations, it can be fixed by the community, right?