Solaris on Intel: Here We Go Again

Linux & Open-Source Center Editor Steven Vaughan-Nichols wishes Sun would either embrace Linux or stop using Solaris on Intel as a pawn against it. Back when we built computers with stone knives and bear skins—OK, 1993—I reviewed the first version of Solaris for Intel for PC Magazine. I liked it. I also noticed at the time that Solaris on Intel wasn't the equal of Solaris on SPARC. It never did catch up. It didn't because Sun didn't want it to catch up. And why was that? It was because Sun was making a lot more money from its SPARC hardware than from its software.

And so it was that Solaris on Intel, also known as Solaris x86, was a loss leader to give business customers a taste of what Solaris could do. Then, when they needed to do more, they'd come to Sun to buy a SPARC box. It was an arrangement that was profitable for both Sun and its resellers.

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