[rescue] Oracle and Sun BIOS updates. (vent)

[Phil Stracchino]

On 06/29/10 10:38, Barry Callahan wrote:
> You know, I could understand Sun wanting you to have a paid service 
> contract to be able to download the Solaris patch clusters. They 
> provided updates not just for the kernel and other core  parts of the 
> operating system but all software that was distributed on the OS install 
> media. Although, I grumbled about their decision to charge for access to 
> the updates when you could download the install media for free.

Even *Microsoft* eventually figured out that everyone, *including
Microsoft*, was better off if they granted free access to security
patches even for illegitimate copies of Windows.  Oracle doesn't seem to
get it.  Plus, how many sales do they think they're going to generate
off of 30-day (or is it 90-day?) free trials of software for which they
won't allow you to download fixes for the known bugs?

"If you give us money, it'll work right.  Trust us."
"Show me it working first, or not one red cent."


> Now, we're no longer using Solaris, but we've got a few Sun Ultra 24s in 
> service running linux that I'd like to install the latest BIOS revision 
> on. Before getting bought by Oracle, you didn't have to have a paid 
> service contract to get access to BIOS and firmware updates. Guess what? 
> Now that Oracle owns them, now you do.
> 
> Argh.

"Oracle wants a support contract to do anything other than sneer and
piss on you, and even for that they charge by the hour."  -- Bill


I don't know whether Oracle (a) thinks it's monetizing its investment in
Sun, (b) is trying to kill off all Sun brand loyalty among the Sun user
community, or (c) has simply managed to get its finger stuck in the
light socket.


-- 
  Phil Stracchino, CDK#2     DoD#299792458     ICBM: 43.5607, -71.355
  alaric at caerllewys.net   alaric at metrocast.net   phil at co.ordinate.org
         Renaissance Man, Unix ronin, Perl hacker, Free Stater
                 It's not the years, it's the mileage.