[geeks] IBM to offer Solaris on it's servers...

[Patrick Giagnocavo]

On Aug 17, 2007, at 12:13 AM, Sridhar Ayengar wrote:

> I'm not saying it's a bad idea for the end-user.  I'm saying it's a  
> bad
> idea for IBM.

Maybe, maybe not.

AIX is a "walled garden" and always has been. It will NEVER be  
mainstream as a result, always just a large niche product - and IBM  
is OK with that because it is a high margin business.

OS/2 was deliberately stopped from adding new functionality because  
the AIX/RS6K faction were protecting their turf and didn't want  
people to buy a highend x86 box instead of a lowend RS6K.

Right now, if you are a big enterprise customer, you pretty much have  
to buy Solaris services and consulting from Sun.  Now, IBM will be  
able to offer those services, so an IBM shop will never feel the  
temptation to go elsewhere.

--Patrick