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by James Robertson.
Original Post: RAVE and Sun
Feed Title: Cincom Smalltalk Blog - Smalltalk with Rants
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Sun really makes me wonder. They say they want to increase the number of Java developers from 3 million to 10 million - left unstated is how this would actually help Sun's bottom line. Sun seems to be trapped in one of those cycles that some companies get into. I saw this at PPD - the management there between 1997 and 1999 had decided that Java and Java tools were where all the money was - even when they heard things like this from customers (Smalltalk) and prospects:
If I buy Java tools, why would I buy them from you?
Sun is stuck in the same place. They make all their money from Solaris on sparc - Java server installations can run equally well on Solaris and Linux - (or Windows, for that matter) - and here was Sun's CTO on that topic:
Linux, and Linux on the x86 architecture in particular, will make inroads into the Windows market. With the ability to run several different flavors of Unix on an inexpensive x86 system, the option to run the prohibitively expensive Windows platform becomes significantly less attractive. We believe we'll see this transition happen slowly, as companies realize that the availability of Unix on x86 means they can get an easier-to-manage system with better uptime and performance than was previously available.
Apparently, Sun's CTO hasn't noticed that server installations of both Linux and Windows are increasing - Linux is taking a far, far bigger bite out of proprietary Unix than of Windows, at least at this point. The transition from a Unix server to a Linux server is far, far easier than the transition from a Windows server to a Linux server is.
So what's Sun's answer to all this? More spending on free Java tools (Rave). Yeah, there's a plan. Anything sun does with Rave will exist on Eclipse, either before it gets to Rave, or shortly thereafter. And in the tools space, Eclipse has all the buzz - there's even an Eclipse for Smalltalkers talk at Smalltalk Solutions 2003! Want to bet on there ever being such a thing for Rave? Then there's buzz like this.
My guess is that Rave will be every bit as successful as NetBeans. The only question is how long it will take Sun to figure it all out. When PPD got infected by C level cluelessness, it stayed on that path until bankruptcy. Unless McNealy goes, I think the same will happen to Sun.
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