1) I like the linux, But the big Sun Iron still rocks it's world for massive projects. In contrast to the niave, hardware for the big leagues are still not commodities. When I'm betting my job and company on absolute performance, I bet on big iron.

2) Everyone has written off Sun over and over and over again. And they continue to stick around. Maybe business schools will be studying how Sun keeps surviving when so many continue to write them off.

3) Its true that Sun has a poor history of managing past Software acquisitions. Let's hope they get a little wiser.
If they are wiser, maybe they should use all those billions in cash they have (ever wondered why a company so many are writing off has more cash than many of the big boys, like IBM and Oracle? what gives?)
for a different acquisition strategy:
options:

1) If Sun really is serious about having a major play in Linux, buy RedHat (about 1.5 Billion cash; cheap), Unless Project Madhatter is revolutionary, (much more than marketing hype or "me too" crap)

2) merge with Apple (much bigger deal)
could help both companies:
Apple knows user experience
Sun knows massive systemic quality design for big systems (and a little about Java too :)
However, if the management process is bad, it could turn out bad for both companies.

3) do not merge with Oracle:
why? Oracle has a DB and some enterprise software. But their pricing and support model is horrible. Bad move. no real advantages here.

4) Merge with an alternative technology company and utilize technology for alternative markets where computing is going into the future (pervasive consumer systems): good candidate: GE (a very good technology company and they could leverage a great deal from each other)

5) Keep all that Cash, clean up operations and software development and MAYBE merge with a systems integrator (but not a typical integrator). I would have Sun merge with Schlumberger (deep telco expertise and enterprise software for telco = a very popular area for Sun)

6) While I believe that large enterprise computers will not be commodities soon, I'm not sure about cpus. If cpus are truly becoming commodities, then maybe Sun should buy AMD (could be done with cash easy : cheap for Sun) and continue to differentiate with massive I/O and memory and FT capabilities in the box /frame (whatever you want to call it)

Lets leave aside their hardware problems for a while and concentrate on the one good thing they have going for them. J2EE.
Where is their commitment to J2EE, the community (which is by the way is IBM,BEA,Oracle,Borland and Others) are doing all the work and all the shouting.Also Sun does not have a competitive Application Server nor does it have a competitive IDE and did someone mention database....
By the way, I for one would like to see a java based Object database.
I would also like to mention that although development time for J2EE is a little more i would definately choose it over .Net
Sun has definately lost whatever edge it had on the Others.

remind you of the former Iraqi Information Minister.

This whole argument about which is better, J2EE or .net is academic. So J2EE is open and .net is not. So J2EE is more mature. In the long run the only thing that matters is which platform has the most applications in production and J2EE has a HUGE (perhaps insurmountable) lead. Anyone remember Sony Beta?

How this arrogant loudmouth is still employed? Sheesh!

Scott what are you saying? I have been a Java supporter for the last few years, the last couple of years Sun seems to be missing the boat. First trying to laugh .net out of existence. Then failure to jump on the web services boat too very late.

Now you are under miming some of the companies supporting Java on the hardware front there is: Apple, Dell, and HP. Software wise Apple and Oracle are both very active Apple writing there own JDK and Oracle a major player in App Server market.

Lastly you are hardly providing leading edge Hardware or Software. Its hard to justify Sun hardware these days as it not providing a great performance increase over other much cheaper hardware. In the software arena the sun supplied JDK is one of worst preforming JDKs available.

the word hubris springs to mind or as Longfellow put it, ?Whom the gods would destroy they first make mad.?

The progression from winning stock symbol to dust-bin...

SUNW
SUNK
SANK
SANG (a swan song...)
WANG
dare we go on???

BANG!
BANK-rupt

Doesn't charge for Java. Can't make money against HP and IBM. The list goes on and on and on why Sun is holding a losing hand...

Don't think so. On today's valuation looks like Larry/Oracle will loose about 3.13B.
It's just a matter of time.

nobody asked you what you need to do development. Anyone can develop java apps almost anywhere (that's the point, stupid). The real point here is "who is going to buy industrial-strength servers and software on which to RUN the stuff we write.

Try to concentrate now - it's not about developer machines & tools. It's about the applications and their final resting place.

If we study the J2EE architecture, its really beautiful. JMS, JTA, JCA etc. are really nice concepts and make integration really easier. J2EE facilitates interoperability among heterogeneous systems.. I wish J2EE systems and Microsoft technologies co-exist and some standard binds them ; Or in other words J2EE and Microsoft technologies must interoperate. It will make the life of system integrators easy..

Sun is the "Worst Run Company" and Scott McNeally seem to be a CEO with a real BIG EGO. I will not be surprised if 2 years from now, all the top business schools start give examples of Sun and Scott as "How not to Run a Company" and "How not to be a CEO".

Scott has compared Sun with Red Hat and listed all the things Sun offers that Red Hat doesn't. He just forgot 1 thing: Database. Nobody really needs Sun and it is part of "colateral damage" too. Sun does not have a database which is the most essential component in any application today.

Microsoft and IBM offer complete solutions right from database to app server to development tools and all the bells and whistles.
It is time to wake up and let go of the big EGO of being the "dot in the .com".

It is time to realize that we are down to just 2 : Microsoft and IBM. And ofcourse Open Source since most of the open source products are much better than Sun products. The sooner he realizes this, the better it is for the company and the shareholders.

Or the other option is to cash in the options while the stock is still above $3.

Sun is a manufacturer of hardware, first and foremost. Thus, their solutions are not geared towards being the best bang for your buck and saving you money, but towards encouraging you to buy as much iron from them as possible. The notion that a software platform should be controled by a (proprietary) hardware vendor is a dangerous one, and it stifles the future of that platform (yes, I'm talking about Java in general and J2EE in particular).

That said, the combination of Java and J2EE is the most extensible, scaleable, and dynamic software platform out there. It is the most modular, offers the cleanest separation of concerns (cf. Microsoft who basically throws everything into one mishmash and calls it a "framework"), and the most powerful overall. It CAN "run anywhere" but "anywhere" usually means Windows desktops just for development and Sun boxes for deployment. Linux is an increasingly viable option, even though Sun doesn't want it to be -- again, having a supposedly OS-neutral hardware-neutral software platform controled by a proprietary hardware vendor is asking for trouble.

Can Sun survive? Who cares, they all come and go, even Microsoft will fall of its own dead weight (as IBM with similar arrogance once did). The most viable path is for them to be bought out by or merge with someone like IBM or even Oracle--someone else with a stake in Java who's likely to keep it alive and open it up. But think about the scariest headline you can imagine in the computer industry:

MICROSOFT BUYS SUN
McNealy Condemned to Wearing Dunce Hat for the Rest of Eternity, Fetching Gates' Coffee and Licking His Shoes Clean

The sad thing is, this could happen if the two nine-year-old bullies running these companies keep at it this way. Personally, I'd rather see a truly open web application platform with Java's power (and native code's speed) come out of whatever battles ensue.

When Sun bought Forte(had good Java IDE/app server) and killed them with own inferior products I knew it was over. They are 2nd rate at knowing what to do...they wasted their money, killed a company that could have come up with a better Java product. It's just a matter of time before Linux slowly but surely eats away at market share until Sun which has shown they only stay a float because they had the best technology starts to slowly go down to an Apple status. Cool technology but nobody really cares.

IBM, Microsoft, and Open Source. The commoditization we observe is taking profits out of hardware, software, and even certain kinds of services (off shore outsourcing, anyone?). As David Small pointed out, all the tools we need to develop and operate are available with zero cost licenses. The answer to Sun's problems (and others) is continuous innovation both technical and commercial, and higher quality personalized service. The treadmill never stops.