Sun and Ubuntu - A Provocative Idea

[Chanchao]

On Tue, 2006-05-09 at 17:14 -0700, Mark Stone wrote:

> So what if Sun did try to strike some kind of partnership with the
> Ubuntu community, and embrace Ubuntu as Sun's preferred desktop
> solution? I've tried to articulate this possibility as best I can at:
> http://osview.blogspot.com/2006/05/open-letter-to-jonathan-schwartz-ive.html
> 
> I'm curious what others in the Ubuntu community think about this possibility.

Well, I agree completely when you say that big corporations with a
server-Linux offering aren't going to offer/support an entirely
different distribution for their desktop PC / Notebook offerings.  That
just wouldn't make sense, indeed; when you're in bed with SuSe or Red
Hat for your server platforms, then you really want to use those for any
desktop offerings as well.

however. While I can see that Ubuntu would be a good choice for Sun if
they wanted to get involved in Desktop Linux, I still have to wonder
about the other way around:  WHY would Sun be a good corporate partner
for Ubuntu?

Keep in mind that Sun doesn't sell millions of PC's and Notebooks to the
general public.  If you have a corporate partner then you'd want a
company who would offer their products with Ubuntu pre-installed, make
sure there's drivers for the hardware and so on.  So then you're looking
at Dell and HP and perhaps Lenovo after they break away from IBM
completely. And perhaps a whole lot of smaller manufacturers, the Acers,
BenQ's, Asuses of this world.

A couple of weeks ago there was this thing here about Oracle becoming a
partner with Ubuntu.. say what?  WHY?   Suddenly there's the perception
that anyone who's anything big in the PC / IT industry needs to adopt
their own little baby Linux distro... 

I don't think that's needed at all.   Ubuntu needs to be *available*
pre-installed on desktop systems. (Bug #1 :)  It actually makes a lot
more sense to talk with Acer and Laser and Asus and BenQ and all those
than to flirt with dinosaurs like Oracle and Sun just to become their
"toy-boy-distro".  

This also keeping in mind that Acer and Asus are actually selling loads
of computers in non-Western regions.. Asia, Africa, etc. Wonder what
Oracle & Sun's activities overthere are that reach the general public
there.

This is more of a "Sounder" type discussion I guess. Will post there as
well.

Cheers,
Chanchao