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What Sun got wrong

692 points · 437 comments · chmaynard

  1. grahamlee · · focus · HN ↗
    The Sun model of beefy server, ultra-thin client worked incredibly well and presaged the widespread adoption of virtualisation that eventually led to cloud computing and containerised software. Unfortunately that model made it very easy to undercut their prices using commodity hardware; I managed a Solaris/Sun Ray network c.2004 and it was cheaper to switch to Linux/Intel and buy spare hardware to keep in a cupboard “just in case” than to keep the Sun network going through its support contract.
    1. dijit · · focus · HN ↗
      it is often cheaper to buy a spare of something and throw it in a cupboard rather than have a support contract.

      I have a bunch of Aruba switches and this is what we do, because it's a lot cheaper.

      1. bluGill · · focus · HN ↗
        If you are only buying a single spare that is the case. Support contracts make sense when you would want several dozen spares.
        1. dijit · · focus · HN ↗
          if a support contract is 70% of the cost of something, then for every 2 of something a spare is cheaper.

          For Aruba I think it was 1:1; a support contract was the same price as the device itself over 2 years or something.

          Support contracts never cover a "site" they always cover individual devices, so your cost scales with the amount you have... so I'm not sure I follow what you're saying..

          Unless you mean to imply that you're replacing units more than once every 2 years, in which case of course you're right... but then I might consider going with another vendor entirely because that is a pretty terrible reliability record.

          1. bluGill · · focus · HN ↗
            There are lots of different support contracts. Some of them really do cover the entire site. You seem to not realize the scale of a large data center. If every device lasts 5 years you are replacing 10 per day is not unheard of.
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