[rescue] Divide and conquer

[Mike F]

On Wed, 23 Jul 2003 14:13:48 -0500
Brian Dunbar <Brian.Dunbar at plexus.com> wrote:

> Apples and oranges but .. Southwest Airlines did better than projected
> this past quarter.  I think the news reader last night said this was
> their 34th straight profitable quarter.  If Southwest can make money
> flying airplanes in a lousy economic climate, why can't Sun do well
> making (by most definitions) great computers?

Heh - because Southwest has always been the value leader. They keep
costs down wherever possible by having no frills. More or less
diametrically opposed to Sun or SGI, who have always sold high-end,
expensive gear. Nothing wrong with either, they're just different
ends of the market. I took a marketing class a few years ago, and
Southwest was the subject of one of my marketing analyses. IIRC, one
of the most remarkable things about them was that they had _always_
been profitable. They also made every effort to not layoff people
when times were tough... all food for thought...