
glassfish
this should be the fate of Glassfish, as well,
24 publicly visible posts • joined 13 Nov 2007
holy "christ",
could there be anything less consequential in the enterprise IT marketplace than an irrelevant OS on top of a dying hardware system?...
i barely read this article, because i could honestly care less about any openSolaris efforts, so i think i gathered that a company actually was put together to do the above trick - - is that right?...
someone has so much time on their hands, enough money, and that little of imagination, that their project is Solaris on Mainframes?...
i really don't what to say, other than:
planet earth to Sun management,
no one frickin cares about your dead OS, move on, so your customers can begin the relatively painless migration to Linux, seriously, grow up, and admit defeat, it isn't that bad...
Dave,
I am not sure what you are getting at, I guess i came away thinking that even though you don't want to pre-announce your "stealth" start-up, you should give the reader a bigger picture of what you are getting at. It is obvious that you have something in mind that would alleviate some of the deployment and configuration problems associated with the cloud, as i assume your project is not to try and create a new programming language for the cloud. I think you should be more explicit about the concept, and not get too stressed about someone stealing the idea.
I am surprised that you think that enterprises will hold-off on mainstream application deployment in the cloud. I would think that is still up in the air. I mean it is a safe bet that with all the investment in licenses, it will take some time to move away from that model, especially as Oracle completely dominates IT enterprise spending. But the pain is there. Customers are sick of IT's complexity not matching the returns. With standardized interfaces, the cloud could mark an inflection point, and spending would just move completely in the direction of simplified deployment, whether that is Google's cloud or the customer's cloud.
I guess I hope that El Reg gives you a platform to write a couple more articles, and i think you should be explicit about the issues that are being faced by customers, not vendors. You have a decent perspective, coming from the (albeit open source) licensing middleware market, and this should help in explaining the cloud market. I would be very eager to read another article from you that really described the cloud issue, and what are the pieces that need to be addressed to get it going. I wouldn't be surprised if you found it valuable to your start-up to get some feedback from readers on your argument.
I guess what i am saying is that this is a good start, but you should really flesh this article out, and really give some full detail about what the hell you are actually trying to say. Again, you probably have funding, first-to-market advantages are over-rated, and you need feedback, so take a chance, and try and describe better what it is that your new effort is focusing on, as that will be a more compelling piece about the cloud...
Again, another piece of useful data from El reg, first i hear from a commenter in the T2 story that Sun could have had Red Hat Linux support to the tune of $100M/yr., and turned it down, now there is a reference in this story that Sun employs 1,000 engineers on openSolaris,
my god, lets see, how about $50,000/yr in salaries and stuff = $50M right there,
i think we could come up with some creative ways to find another $50M to pay Red Hat, or even get those openSolaris engineers to work on supporting Linux instead...
does anyone even do analysis at Sun anymore?...
So, what you are saying is that if Sun would have payed Red Hat $100M per year, they could have Linux on the T2 boxes, and supported by Red Hat with maintenance updates going forward?...and you are implying that Sun thought that was too much to pay?...
thank you for this post, this is the first time i have ever heard of a definitive negotiation between Sun and Red Hat around Linux on SPARC/T2, and will force me to break-down and respond with my own take on this decision by Sun:
bahahahahaha...
they spend $100M on openSolaris sales and marketing in a month and that gets them negative positioning, so their decision to not spend the $100M/annum is further proof that no one at Sun (who can make a decision) knows how to run a cost-benefit analysis, let alone understand the IT marketplace...
this is perhaps the most useful piece of knowledge i have received on Sun's management in some time: they can't spend $100M/year on Red Hat Linux, so they watch their entire business go away, what an absolute joke the Sun executive management team is...
Jonathan, you couldn't manage your way out of an introductory MBA marketing class, let alone a start-up that has no discernible value (Lighthouse), let alone a Fortune 500 company, let alone an IT vendor with the assets to change how systems are implemented worldwide...
in other words, i am ashamed that i even had to indirectly take a top-down order from you, like that Orion garbage you came up with, you have zero idea what you are doing...
Re: Steven Jones post,
IMO, and judging from all empirical and analytical data on Sun's business, the actual achilles' heel of Sun is their completely myopic focus on Solaris,
i am so sick of the people running Sun, i have no words to describe how stupid it is not to support Red Hat on the T2, it just is the single biggest amateur move in the IT industry...
they have everything they need to deploy top-bottom systems on pretty good middleware, including Glassfish and MySQL, and instead they spend all their money and focus on promoting and sustaining openSolaris...
its a joke of an operation in Santa Clara, everyone in the engineering ranks and the middleware are top-notch, the executive management couldn't run a shoe store (apologies to shoe store managers), which is what they will be looking at when they are finally kicked out...
i am so over Sun executive management...
I only bother to use Gmail, Calendar, Blogger, Docs, Youtube, and News, so this is a no-brainer for my Internet use,
as long as it can look up El Reg, and other basic sites, i'll stick with it, i mean, i feel ya, Firefox, but you better take Google's advice and converge,
Chrome is a surprise to me, and an obvious choice for my needs...
I understand u don't like me challenging your preciously held beliefs, but i do spend time in the on-line forums of interest...
It would seem, Dave, that you spend most of your time on ancillary matters, as well, what exactly does an enterprise OSS middleware software CEO do, if not decide the direction in which the company will go?
Without debating on The Reg, which i take it you don't want to do, I am still trying to figure out MuleSource, I always wish that start-ups would give more clarity in to their business, as its not like there is all that much proprietary to protect, like growth plans, exit strategies, etc...
but, i assume u don't want to take the time to do that, but i'll ask again, if not that, then what?
I do like the Open Season, and i want it to continue, so barring a FCC complaint, i am simply pointing out that your audience (beyond Matt) may cringe at some comments, and therefore you should treat your presence on these podcasts as a privilege not a right...
I would be happy to have a quasi-debate on anything that I have some knowledge of ("clouds" is not 1 of them), i like that CNet gives you a forum, and along with Matt's blog, i gather occasional bits of knowledge from them...
As u noticed, I do follow this market, and u r in a position to make statements that go beyond your potty-mouth, so use it well...
if you want to take offense to JBI, JEE, ESB, or OSS comments i make, i cant do anything about it, i dont plan to step down from my free-lancing ways,
as always, i am for hire, if you think that would be a more appropriate way of communicating...
btw, i have taken your advice and updated my "crappy" blog for your reference, perhaps that could be a place to start...
Could u turn the anti-obscene words, or at least "swear words" that flow from Rosenberg's mouth off for future episodes...is it really necessary to get a point across and/or worthy of a radio show to have one of the hosts go all "negative"...
assuming if he reads this, he'll cry out that i am a stalker i'll just say, Dave, relax, u r not that important...
all in all, a decent show, though cloud computing is the same as Web 2.0, and i could use a little more analysis on enterprise OSS, like what is going on with JBoss?
Not sure if linking to my blog will get through the editors, but i will specifically link to the post I made ab/ the article from Ashlee:
http://douglasdooley.blogspot.com/2008/07/death-spiral-needed-solutions.html
these are tough times, and perception means a lot, but there are ways to get going, without selling to Fujitsu (or Oracle?)...
all the best to those that can see the role that Sun plays...
The guy has a way with words, first he announces his arrival on the scene earlier this year by saying that JBoss would capture "50%" of the middleware market, which is patently absurd...note to Muzilla, at least qualify that with 'Java middleware' and .Net is a middleware technology, and to think JBoss will take 50% from Oracle, IBM, and Sun is one thing, but to do it to Microsoft, as well, is crazy-talk...
Then, in this article, he claims that "most" deals are BEA-related, which is also unfortunate, as most of their deals should be Red Hat-related, no one cares if they are picking off departmental deals that WebLogic does not want to price for, because if he thinks that Oracle is not going to be coming full-force in the very near-future is naive...
Finally, i would really like to know what he means by "re-factoring" and "interoperate", because I kind of got the feeling that he doesn't know what that means, or in the very least, i don't know what he means from listening to him, so if his role is to explain the eternally painful delay of JBoss 5, this garbage about re-factoring is not very convincing...
"several quarters" is really disappointing, i know i am a jerk, but I really want JBoss to succeed, and I know engineering a new app server platform is hard-work, but messaging on this could be better, like details on what any of what he says means....
Sacha?...
Though this may b unoriginal, would someone with an Azul connection or context on how their hardware works vet out this scenario:
take openSPARC, openSolaris (or i would do Linux), Glassfish, MySQL, and openStorage, and build a competitor to Sun...
this is something that an analyst at Gartner or IDC could do if they weren't guessing about the size of the supposed SOA market...
i think Jonathan has made some good moves, probably is spot on about OSS (though i stay on the record of being skeptical openSolaris is relevant), and is a notable Web 2.0 CEO, but is anyone else just tired of Sun not executing?
I think with some Reference Architectures you could make your very own Sun Microsystems clone with ab/ a $4-6 billion cheaper annual cost structure (net: $1-2B from R&D, at least $2B from COGS, and probably $2B from SGA)...
i am volunteering my efforts to sizing up the business plan if there is a VC out there willing to take the chance: isn't it just a matter of time?...
Basically, Matt, x86 is a cloud maneuver, but it doesn't reflect the enterprise market, nearly as much...i honestly don't know what u r talking about with Itanium and Power, those r the 2 least likely platforms to make a difference, IMO...
Solaris as a services contract revenue stream seams far-fetched, as well, as they have licensed it to their biggest competitors, leaving a saturated market, in theory, for developer up-take, but if analysts really did their job and gave us the penetration of openSolaris to Linux, we would fall off our chairs laughing at the disparity...
I really think whether it is fiscal year Q1 09 or Q4 10 does not really matter, Sun will have to ship their most valuable and highest priority servers on Linux, and most likely Red Hat, unless Debian pulls something out of nowhere...
it is going to be a battle for solutions on top of Linux with JBoss and Glassfish battling for relevancy, and ultimately splitting the Enterprise Java market where Sun makes most of its revenue; i seriously think that Jonathan's job is on the line the longer he holds on to this Solaris pipe-dream...
does anyone out there know the impediment to Sun getting a Red Hat Enterprise Linux contract on the GSO price list? I know it would be an uphill battle for Glassfish to fight JBoss on Red Hat's terms, but I can't think of a single Unix customer that is not going to be a Linux customer within 5 years...
its just done, fighting the Solaris-battle is the definition of a losing war...
Let me get this straight:
Itanium > Rock...
I agree with your second point, though, and u sound like a reasonably informed poster, so you probably remember the history of the re-emergence of Solaris on x86 circa 2002...
it seemed to me when the panic button was hit, at Sun, about this timeframe, to try to stem the tide of Linux, there might have been different options other than saving Solaris as a volume server play...
a. invest in Linux
b. take a position with Red Hat
c. have Oracle do one of the above
d. Focus on middleware revenues on SPARC
a) would have been a good move; b) would have been a temporary move; c) would not have worked; d) would not have stabilized the revenue situation, so i understand that in those desperate moments, "saving" Solaris seemed like the best bad option,
but now we have openSolaris and continuous propaganda around its supposed relevance, and i just don't see why Sun thinks an OS is so mission-critical for a competitive advantage? do you?
Hey Dave,
The hatchet will be buried very soon, but I appreciate the un-named shout out on Open Season, just so we're clear, I don't contribute code to OSS projects and don't have money to spend on sponsoring OSS projects, but do have an interest in where the OSS market goes. Its a potential source of income for me, somewhat like it is for u today...
Our little "fight" was on a request for u to clarify why Sun does not "get" open source, which u have, AFAIK, to this day, yet to answer. Maybe I missed it, or perhaps u just don't have the time to do it, but i think its different than your claim that I accused u of not getting OSS and Java. Maybe I'm splitting hairs, or maybe your lumping me in to a discussion on OSS 'bile' is legit, but at least be accurate and/or make an explanation...
That includes the former head of software that matters at Sun, Mark Bauhaus, going to Juniper...in all estimation, they were the 2 best executives Jonathan had, unless you are fond of John Fowler's anointed role, as right-hand man...
Let's see the Java server business exec., and now the Multi-core head, are both gone, perhaps this says nothing about the issues at Sun, and more about the opportunities at Juniper...
There is optimism in the Glassfish ranks, but disarray in the processor division, as reported by Ashlee, so how to get Sun back? Not by dismissing Bauhaus and Yen. Is it time to buy Azul? Is it time to take WebLogic off the price-list? surely, something beyond just OSS propaganda around Solaris is what will turn the tide...
revenue growth is within reach, or is there truly a concerted effort to make Sun look more unattractive than it really is? is there a 'white knight'? whether these threats r unfounded or ancient history is debatable and unknown...
what is known is that there is under-performance, maybe it can be blamed on a separate Chairman and CEO position, maybe it can be blamed on sub-prime mortgages, or maybe its endemic to the model of Solaris-first above everything else, maybe its a skewed perspective that holds back Sun, and watches many of its best people look for their coats...
Very intriguing move from Glassfish owners, kind of signals a competitive front with JBoss over Hibernate more than an ongoing battle over porting WebLogic accounts, but perhaps this is an embrace-and-extend strategy, or maybe there just isn't a lot of strategic competitive analysis going on at Sun (apologies, i know this is not true)...
OSGi has not been formally suppported by Glassfish, AFAIK, even though they are doing their own 'modularity' campaign; i can't help but think that there is a reference to Spring support coming from Sun, beyond just JAX support, which seems rather disheartening considering the anti-EJB campaign being waged by SpringSource exec's...
JPA is a natural for Oracle, though they were beaten to the punch by Gavin King, and given a lifeline by Glassfish v. 1 with TopLink support; given the BEAS acquisition, there seems to be some maneuvering prior to the decision of Orion v. WL...
the b.l. is that JEE continues to offer a portability value proposition that nothing else can offer, if we can ever get to a marketplace where Geronimo/WebSphere, NetWeaver/SAP, WebLogic/Oracle, Glassfish/Sun, and JBoss/RedHat can provide true inter-operability of apps, the conditions for a marketplace of components and independent developer offerings will be satisfied...
Another article, another way to spread some critique of the JBoss salvo in to enterprise software: there is analysis and then there is 'momentum'-analysis, with JBoss doing well in spite of its inability or unwillingness to release a Java 5 server...
The Red Hat acquisition was a singular move to keep the at-that-moment leader in the open source ranks, and therefore, a superior cost model to proprietary Java platforms, truly one of the shrewdest moves in software...
This Accelerator program is a non-issue, though nice to see, with pre-built best practice environments, Muzilla needs to demonstrate that he knows how to ship product integration that can get to the 95% of non-app server experts...
Basically, this is a safe article, but it is getting easy to pile on JBoss for not yet taking "50% of all enterprise deployments" as Muzilla himself declared, even though the current state of middleware means that JBoss, and by virtue, RHAT, control its destiny as a deployment platform....
I also re-read your global domination by Google via MySQL article, and it was worth a good morning laugh; this one is spot on, though it will take some considerable training for Sun GSO to sell a database, as they are just truly learning to sell the app server...
But in the context of a top-bottom web, identity, app, and database server stack, along with ESB, IDE, the only thing missing is a portal, but then again, who needs that...what a day: there were long-ago dreams of a BEA acquisition of Sun, in the go-go days of J2EE's beginnings, when iPlanet could not sustain anything (apologies)...
Now, in a seeming coincidence (is there such a thing?), WebLogic finds a home, and Sun formally enters the software market; not since the formation of the Sun-Netscape Alliance has there been so much to think about from the Sun software offering: with an emmergent Java platform, combined with a relevant OSS strategy, and now MySQL, there are no excuses left, there is no more waiting, there is nothing to consider, other than execution...
so many assets, so much goodwill, multiple options - - Jonathan, it is time to make this systems thing go...
NetBeans is a measured success, coming from a point of nothing to some respectability, and with the increased relevance of the Java app server at Sun, should be considered an option for Sun hardware deployments...getting on to other vendors' hardware or OS is going to be difficult, but not impossible...
Hitting out at Sun for not making revenue on software is a tried-and-true practice, but is not really relevant, even considering that Wall St. conventional wisdom in '03 that had Sun making "a majority of profits from software", they need to sell multi-core systems with bundled software, as has been in the cards since the Sun-Netscape Alliance...
Removing barriers to NetBeans adoption consistency is not a failure in software strategy but an upgrade, and I would invest more in Java deployment patterns that is the only way out of the morass of a marketplace that is moving beyond Solaris...there is an opportunity for Sun software success, but it is going to be in middleware implementations, on hardware that appeals to specialized Java requirements: that is the only thing that is a competitive advantage, and as soon as the Sun sales force implements it universally through best practices, pre-built solutions, and consistent messaging, there will be a recovery...
until then, we have to hear ab/ the great ineptitude of one of the last vestiges of IT innovation...
I enjoyed the analysis from Marcf, and the questions from the hosts were truly informed. I would say that Marc was a bit coy about how much JBoss contributed to the end times of WebLogic growth, and that his $25/share price point for an ORCL acquisition is a bit off, but overall a great take.
As far as the Red Hat situation goes, JBoss is the lead product going forward, with Linux being saturated as revenue production growth being known. Going in to accounts, JBoss sales engineers will be the chief negotiators for Red Hat opportunities, and any thoughts on a "trapped asset" ignores the realities of the target markets they'll have.
Good job, all involved, this is a great session.