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Re: blame game (was Re: RFD: Remove comp.unix.bsd.386bsd.misc and comp.unix.bsd.bsdi.misc)

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  Re: blame game (was Re: RFD: Remove comp.unix.bsd.386bsd.misc and comp.unix.bsd.bsdi.misc) groenveld@acm.org (John D Groenveld) - 2026-02-19 13:31 +0000
    Re: blame game (was Re: RFD: Remove comp.unix.bsd.386bsd.misc and comp.unix.bsd.bsdi.misc) YTC1 <ytc1@ytc1.co.uk> - 2026-02-19 18:46 +0000
      Re: blame game (was Re: RFD: Remove comp.unix.bsd.386bsd.misc and comp.unix.bsd.bsdi.misc) groenveld@acm.org (John D Groenveld) - 2026-02-19 20:57 +0000
        Re: blame game (was Re: RFD: Remove comp.unix.bsd.386bsd.misc and comp.unix.bsd.bsdi.misc) YTC1 <ytc1@ytc1.co.uk> - 2026-02-20 09:04 +0000

#973 — Re: blame game (was Re: RFD: Remove comp.unix.bsd.386bsd.misc and comp.unix.bsd.bsdi.misc)

[adding comp.sys.sun.hardware]
In article <10n6nkh$3dlk1$1@dont-email.me>, YTC1  <ytc1@ytc1.co.uk> wrote:
>Nah, I blame the hippy.

<URL:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fvsItXYgzk>

Wikipedia's page for Sun is pretty good, but a list of who McNealy
placed in the C suite would be informative.
Ed Zander is only mentioned once.
<URL:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Microsystems>
 
>Larry invested heavily in SPARC (initially), giving us a 5GHz server, 
>air cooled. Way ahead of others.

Was Oracle UK selling these to new customers or just to those Ellison
already had over the barrel due to high barriers to exit?

>Then he got bored.

IME Ellison Senior does not bore with making money, but I'm open to
reading more.
Will David Ellison inherit controlling interest?
John
groenveld@acm.org

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#974

On 19/02/2026 13:31, John D Groenveld wrote:
> [adding comp.sys.sun.hardware]
> In article <10n6nkh$3dlk1$1@dont-email.me>, YTC1  <ytc1@ytc1.co.uk> wrote:
>> Nah, I blame the hippy.
> 
> <URL:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fvsItXYgzk>

I was referencing Schwartz, not sure why you pointed me at SNL? (I don't 
watch random videos)
> 
> Wikipedia's page for Sun is pretty good, but a list of who McNealy
> placed in the C suite would be informative.
> Ed Zander is only mentioned once.

He was a boring accountant.

> <URL:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Microsystems>

>   
>> Larry invested heavily in SPARC (initially), giving us a 5GHz server,
>> air cooled. Way ahead of others.
> 
> Was Oracle UK selling these to new customers or just to those Ellison
> already had over the barrel due to high barriers to exit?
T8/M8

New customers, and old ones.
Some pretty meaty stuff

> 
>> Then he got bored.
> 
> IME Ellison Senior does not bore with making money, but I'm open to
> reading more.

I think he wasn't making enough money, no investment in SPARC (as far as 
I am aware) since 2017. Solaris ticks over.

It's a shame, but lots of good computers have gone by the wayside (ICL 
for one), it happens. We move on.





-- 
Bruce Porter
"The internet is a huge and diverse community but mainly friendly"
http://ytc1.blogspot.co.uk/
There *is* an alternative! http://www.openoffice.org/

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#975

In article <10n7lr2$3ol80$1@dont-email.me>, YTC1  <ytc1@ytc1.co.uk> wrote:
>I was referencing Schwartz

I figured.
Am I giving Schwartz too much credit for OpenSolaris?
<URL:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenSolaris>
<URL:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_I._Schwartz>

> not sure why you pointed me at SNL? (I don't 
>watch random videos)

There's a life lesson to be learned about who placed Toonces behind that
wheel.

>He was a boring accountant.

ISTR after McNealy put Zander behind the wheel, Sun started swerving
off the road.
IIRC Zander moved on to doing a bang-up job at Motorola.
Did McNealy give him a reference?

>New customers, and old ones.
>Some pretty meaty stuff

Interesting.

>I think he wasn't making enough money, no investment in SPARC (as far as 
>I am aware) since 2017. Solaris ticks over.

As Ellison told us after the purchase, he was only interested in the high-
margin, low-volume systems market.
Customers should be wary (Ellison or not) especially when matched with
high barriers to exit.

>It's a shame, but lots of good computers have gone by the wayside (ICL 
>for one), it happens. We move on.

Creative destruction and all that... great to see illumos based
systems moving forward.

John
groenveld@acm.org

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#976

On 19/02/2026 20:57, John D Groenveld wrote:
> In article <10n7lr2$3ol80$1@dont-email.me>, YTC1  <ytc1@ytc1.co.uk> wrote:
>> I was referencing Schwartz
> 
> I figured.
> Am I giving Schwartz too much credit for OpenSolaris?
> <URL:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenSolaris>
> <URL:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_I._Schwartz>
> 

No, he was the push behind it and would have released sooner if he had 
his way. However he didn't monitise it (support payments).
He was very much for 'give it away' and people will pay for support.

>>
>> He was a boring accountant.
> 
> ISTR after McNealy put Zander behind the wheel, Sun started swerving
> off the road.
Agreed, Zander, being an accountant, didn't get the philosphy of the 
workforce.

> IIRC Zander moved on to doing a bang-up job at Motorola.

Sun dodged a bullet


>> New customers, and old ones.
>> Some pretty meaty stuff
> 
> Interesting.

I worked with SPARC right up until I stopped working, loved the stuff. 
Up until 2017 it was good to see the faster specs coming out, but then 
the roadmaps stopped.

LDoms are still impressive, then mixed with Zones there is a stack from 
physical partitions (M series) to micro virtualistion (CPU chop in 
zones, inside an LDom)

> 
>> I think he wasn't making enough money, no investment in SPARC (as far as
>> I am aware) since 2017. Solaris ticks over.
> 
> As Ellison told us after the purchase, he was only interested in the high-
> margin, low-volume systems market.

Yep, X boxes with Linux.

> Customers should be wary (Ellison or not) especially when matched with
> high barriers to exit.

Yep, once the OracleDB package is in , it stays.

> 
>> It's a shame, but lots of good computers have gone by the wayside (ICL
>> for one), it happens. We move on.
> 
> Creative destruction and all that... great to see illumos based
> systems moving forward.
> 

Yep, I must get back to project "migrate from Solaris to OmniOS"......



-- 
Bruce Porter
"The internet is a huge and diverse community but mainly friendly"
http://ytc1.blogspot.co.uk/
There *is* an alternative! http://www.openoffice.org/

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