Views on the Industry

announcement

Looks like we have a re-positioning of the subscription pricing model coming tomorrow, unless there is something to be said about the Desktop program at Sun. Maybe Star Office 8 needs to be re-launched or something equally lame. In any event, unless MB is involved, it is bound to be completely lame, especially considering that the current barometer is the open source database conversation - - who cares? Well, maybe Solaris developers care that Sun is giving away an already free database, but when it comes to Java, database support is a given. I may care to retract my post, if JS and JL announce something like Glassfish integration with JAX, but that would require JJ being on board. Maybe they will announce that AS 8.1, EE or AS9, PE is going to be integrated in to N1 instances and/or Solaris 10. In any event, it seems unlikely that there will be much movement towards policies, practices, and products that actually enhance the Sun value proposition vis-a-vis, umm, maybe BEA? I am so sick of the garbage coming out of that company in the hopes that WebLogic will succeed. It's over, guys, read my posts, its obvious we won this battle, and have therefore wrestled away from you the gameplan. You are now playing by JBoss' rules, and you have the developers to thank for that.

So come up with something bold, and not just announce something that everyone will groan over. You are Sun, you're supposed to be leading an evolution so vast that it changes how business is done. If it has anything to do with re-pricing, re-announcing, or re-positioning, you have failed once again, and you might as well cancel the press release. If it is just to upstage Dec. 6, fine, its a business move, so invisibly veiled. But if you have something that MB and JJ can support, then you might get some support from the constituency that you are supposed to be feeding: the JEE developer community. Until there is some recognition of the state of affairs in terms of app server marketing, there will be no hope of a resurgence of Sun's business. I can foresee more great announcements every J1 from MB, especially next year with an integrated Glassfish w/JBI (if that happens next year). But until the words "fail-over" grace the lips of JS, there will be an also-ran strategy, and a future strategy. Are you really going to leave it to Marc to continue to dictate terms? Are you really going to leave the major movement to me?

posted by douglas dooley @ 1:40 PM