SCO fizzles

[burns]

On Sun, 2003-08-24 at 22:59, Collins Richey wrote:

> 
> Any company large enough to consider IBM Z series mainframes is going to
> think twice about the headaches of running a traditional server farm of
> unix or linux boxes.  The simplicities of scaling up processing power
> as needed and the ability to run thousands of server images on a Z
> series with not much more effort than a handful is going to eat Sun's
> lunch in its traditional, profitable mid-high-end niche

That's not the way we're seeing it unfold, although it makes some sense
and I'm sure IBM would love it. In terms of upfront roll-out costs
mainframes make sense, especially where business are looking for high
uptimes (e.g. five 9's). However, there are still a huge number of
dedicated "Sun shops" out there, especially amongst those corporations
that are not willing to out-source lock, stock and barrel to IBM.
Mainframes are nice, but like HP inkjet cartridges, IBM makes its money
on professional services, outsourcing and support... and it is *muy*
expensive and it definitely limits your non-IBM up-stream options. But
like the man says, it's all about choice and, until MS gets its way,
there will continue to be choices in approach to enterprise architecture
and resourcing... and that's a good thing.
-- 
burns