[geeks] Reflections on an Ultra 60

[Peter L. Wargo]

On Mon, 3 Sep 2001, Ken Hansen wrote:

> How do these prices drive down the stock?

Well, it's more of an economic indicator of the slump in the market - when
I can pay $800 for a U60 that is only a couple of years old (and being
sold new still!), there is a problem.  So, our sales sag for a while, our
stock (which shouldn't have split) drops to a level that makes me want to
cry, and the less useful people at your job get nervous. (That last one
may be a *good* thing - IMO, some sections of Sun hired too fast, and got
some less than useful bodies.  Like individuals who piss and moan about
having to do their work on anything but a PC....)

> If these boxes were being bought by businesses, the
> prices would be higher - since they are not beong
> bought, the price is *low*.

Actually, I know of some places that would've snapped up stuff quicky, if
they could - but, it takes weeks (or more) for most places to get the
order through the chain... (Side story, when buying NCGR's now <sigh>
defunct E10K, I had a problem when the price dropped after all the
approvals for the PO were made, but the check hadn't been cut.  So, I
"upgraded" a bit... Like turned one DLT drive into an ETL 7/3500, added
some cool software, etc.  It was either that or wait two more months for a
revised approval.  In a 60-person company!  Geez....)

> That the dot-bomb took the life out of the Sun market
> (for one market segment, for now) is not a sign of
> trouble for Sun, IMHO.

Not in the long run, no.  Thinks will be skinny for a while, but I look at
it as a long-term investment.  I jush wish I had another 10K or so lying
around to go buy some more stock, having bought a wad's worth at $15...

> Remember, the stock market is an indication of what
> ignorant investors think of your stock *right now* -
> it does not mean the company is in bad shape, it means
> they have a marketing/pr problem ;^)

Yep.  Part of the whole problem is the "gigahertz gap", which we all know
is a non-issue if you know what you are doing.  But, there are people out
there who think that faster clock speed is a sign of higher performance.
(Personally, I'll just sit back w/my G4 and laugh...)

> And yess, the glass is half-full!

:-)  Always the optimist, huh?  Well, I actually think this downturn was a
good thing for Sun - as a company, Sun was getting too arrogant.  The
Exx00 class servers were (are) great, but I wonder about the Sun Fire(tm)
line - I don't see them as revolutionary (in my perspective) as the
Exx00's were.  IMO, the Exx00's were the first really capable MP servers
from sun - the SS1000 and the SC2000 are great (and durable), but they had
some design issues - also, Solaris wasn't mature enough yet.  The Exx00's,
along with Solaris 2.5.1, became the first "appliance class" MP servers -
you could set them up fairly easily, configure them, and site back to
watch them run for a few years, especially if you had the by then
well-seasoned SSA's for storage.  I know of an E4000 that has run for over
4 years w only *two* unscheduled downtimes.  An amazing feat, and it is
still running 2.5.1....

I'm just being somewhat whiny myself - I seem to end up going to companies
just before something weird happens...  I have yet to take a job and have
nothing eventful happen for even 6 months...

_pete