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Good premise, bad premise
Quoting the comment...

"Given Sun?s need for community contributions, which motivated the decision to make OpenSolaris open source in the first place..."

Yes, OpenSolaris exists so that Sun could obtain free labor for development. In return, the company sacrificed the ability to sell, make a profit on the product. Given the likely experience level of most Solaris users, the number of "service" contracts is probably limited.

Sun expected reduced labor costs to exceed the value of sacrificed sales.

So, while the statement quoted above is accurate, this one does not portray the situation quite so accurately:

"... why should I work free so you can profit?"

Sun has already sacrificed profit to obtain your work.


The next question to consider is Why Sun continues to show any interest in Solaris when direct sales have been foregone.

The most likely is encouragement of sales of Sun hardware. Though, of course, open sourcing means that any other computer maker able to run Solaris has become a realistic competitor in a market Sun had owned. So Sun is likely to be losing more ground by open sourcing Solaris.

But if Solaris can be changed to run uniquely well on unique aspects of Sun's hardware, then the company has a chance for a feeble return on all it has lost.

Of course, the people who know the hardware best are probably more suited to do such work than a "community" member. So to obtain this hypothetical advantage the copmpany may have to pay people it was hoping to avoid paying by making Solaris open source.

Sun would thus not have the expected labor savings and the disastrous result of this decision would be complete.

If you want to punish Sun and work on Solaris, work only on what benefits you and ignore any chance to work on Sun's priorities. The company deserves no better.
Posted by: Anton Philidor   Posted on: 02/21/08 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use
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Good premise, bad premise  Anton Philidor | 02/21/08
Sun also hit a huge road block  No_Ax_to_Grind | 02/21/08
Up to your same old FUD, eh?  NetArch. | 02/21/08
An interesting argument, but is it the point?  DanaBlankenhorn ZDNet Moderator | 02/21/08
It is in a round about way  No_Ax_to_Grind | 02/21/08
stop taking it out of context  super_J | 02/21/08
Took nothing out of context  No_Ax_to_Grind | 02/21/08
No, you just outright lied again.  odubtaig | 02/21/08
Spin all you like, rant endlessly if you think it helps  No_Ax_to_Grind | 02/22/08
Dan Rachiver = PPF, not FSF you clueless prat  odubtaig | 02/22/08
If the software idea is patented...  Anton Philidor | 02/21/08
Correct, and that is why  No_Ax_to_Grind | 02/21/08
If that occurs...  odubtaig | 02/21/08
First to file or first to invent.  Anton Philidor | 02/21/08
*boggle*  odubtaig | 02/22/08
Another stupid rant.  No_Ax_to_Grind | 02/21/08
RE: Sun's OpenSolaris community problem  IT_Guy_z | 02/21/08
Yeah, all those greedy people wanting to eat.  No_Ax_to_Grind | 02/21/08
Actually...  IT_Guy_z | 02/21/08
Yeah its nice if you can afford to work for nothing  No_Ax_to_Grind | 02/21/08
Yeah, damn those people expecting to get paid for their work...  odubtaig | 02/21/08
Wrong  DarkPhoenixFF4 | 02/21/08
Have you not heard of Fedora? (hint it's a type of hat)  devlin_X | 02/22/08
I thought the free version of RHEL was CentOS.  odubtaig | 02/22/08
RE:Sun's OpenSolaris community problem  suhail.stk@... | 02/22/08

What do you think?

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