#redirect Sun Microsystems
:''SUN redirects here, for other meanings see SUN (disambiguation).'' Sun Microsystems is a computer, semiconductor and software manufacturer headquartered in Santa Clara, California, in Silicon Valley. Sun's manufacturing facilities are located in Hillsboro, Oregon and Linlithgow, Scotland. Sun's products include computer servers and workstations based on its own SPARC and AMD's Opteron Central processing units, the Solaris Operating Environment and Linux operating systems, the Network File System network file system, and the Java platform. Its less successful ventures have included the NeWS window system and the OpenLook graphical user interface. Sun Microsystem is headquartered on the west campus of Agnews Developmental Area in Santa Clara, California, which was formerly an insane asylum. The east branch is also owned by the company and is located in San Jose, California. == Brief history == The initial design for Sun's UNIX workstation was conceived when the founders were graduate students at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. The company name SUN originally stood for Stanford University Network (which is reflected in the company's stock symbol, SUNW, which now stands for Sun Worldwide). The company was incorporated in 1982 and went public in 1986. Its founders were Vinod Khosla, Scott McNealy, Bill Joy (a primary developer of Berkeley Software Distribution), and Andy Bechtolsheim; McNealy and Bechtolsheim remain at Sun. Other Sun luminaries include early employees John Gilmore and James Gosling. Sun was an early advocate of Unix-based networked computing, promoting TCP/IP and especially Network File System, as reflected in the company's motto "The Network Is The Computer". James Gosling led the team which developed the Java programming language. Most recently, Jon Bosak led the creation of the XML specification at W3C. Sun's logo, which features ambigram of the word ''sun'', was designed by professor Vaughan Pratt, also of Stanford University. The initial version of the logo had the sides oriented horizontally and vertically, but it was subsequently redesigned so as to appear to stand on one corner. == Hardware == Sun originally used the Motorola 68000 Central processing unit family for the Sun 1 through Sun 3 computer series. Starting with the Sun 4 line (SPARCstation 1 onwards), the company used its own processor family, SPARC, which employs an IEEE standard RISC architecture. Sun has implemented multiple high-end generations of the Sparc architecture, including ''Sparc-1'', ''SuperSparc'', ''UltraSparc-I'', ''UltraSparc-II'', ''UltraSparc-III'', and currently ''UltraSparc IV''. Sun also has a second line of lower cost processors meant for low-end systems which included the ''MicroSparc-I'', ''MicroSparc-II'', ''UltraSparc-IIi'', and ''UltraSparc-IIIi''. Sun has had a difficult time keeping up with its competitors' processors' clock speed and computing power, but its customer base has been fairly loyal due to the popularity of its SunOS (and later Solaris Operating Environment) versions of Unix. [[Image:sun_small.jpg|thumb|256px|The console of a Sun workstation running the X Window System]] For the first decade of Sun's history, the company was predominately a vendor of technical workstations, competing successfully as a low-cost vendor during the ''Workstation Wars'' of the 1980s. In the late-1990s, as Sun's workstations were lagging in performance when compared to that of their competitors and especially to Wintel Personal Computers, the company successfully transformed itself to a vendor of large-scale Symmetric multiprocessing servers. This transition was enabled by technology that was acquired from Silicon Graphics and Cray Research. The Cray ''CS-6400'' server line was transformed into the very successful Sun Enterprise 10000 and Sun Enterprise 450 mainframes. For a short period in the late 1980s, they sold an Intel 80386–based machine, the Sun 386i. An x86 port of Solaris has been available since then. Currently, Sun is again selling x86 hardware and has introduced a version of Solaris for AMD64. In the mid-1990s, Sun acquired Diba and Cobalt Networks with the aim of building ''network appliances'' (single function computers meant for consumers). Sun also marketed a ''network computer'' (diskless workstation, as popularized by Oracle Corporation CEO Larry Ellison). None of these business initiatives were particularly successful. Starting in the late 1990s, Sun highlighted symmetric multiprocessing to compete with the capabilities of Intel-based servers. Driven by the increased prominence of web-serving database-searching applications, ''blade server'' (high density rack-mounted systems) were also emphasized. ==The Bubble and Its Aftermath== During the dot-com bubble, Sun experienced dramatic growth in revenue, profits, share price, and expenses. Some part of this was due to genuine expansion of demand for web-serving cycles, but another part was synthetic, fueled by venture capital-funded startups building out large, expensive Sun-centric server presences in the expectation of high traffic levels that never materialized. The share price in particular increased to a level that even the company's executives were hard-pressed to defend. In response to this business growth, Sun expanded aggressively in all areas: head-count, infrastructure, and office space. The bursting of the bubble in 2001 was the start of a period of poor business performance for Sun, as the growth of online business failed to meet predictions. Multiple quarters of substantial losses and declining revenues have led to repeated rounds of layoffs, executive departures, and expense-reduction efforts. In 2002 the share price returned to the 1998 pre-bubble level, a pattern of escalation and decline comparable to other companies in the sector, and has hovered in the single digits since then. In mid-2004, Sun ceased manufacturing operations at their Newark, California facility and consolidated all of the company's US-based manufacturing operations to their Hillsboro, Oregon facility, as part of continued cost-reduction efforts. Many companies (like E*Trade and Google) chose to build Web applications based on large numbers of cheap PC-class Intel-architecture servers running Linux, rather than a smaller number of high-end Sun servers. They reported benefits including substantially lower expenses (both acquisition and maintenance) and greater flexibility based on the use of open source software. ==Present focus== In 2004, Sun cancelled two major processor projects which were emphasizing high instruction level parallelism and high operating frequency. Instead, the company chose to concentrate on processor projects emphasizing multi-threading and multiprocessing. The company also announced a collaboration with Fujitsu to use the Japanese company's processor chips in some future Sun computers. Finally, it has a strategic alliance with AMD to produce market-leading x86/x64 servers based on AMD's Opteron processor. To this end, it acquired Kaelia, a startup founded by original Sun founder Andy Bechtolsheim, which had been focusing on high-performance AMD-based servers. In February 2005, Sun announced the [http://www.sun.com/service/sungrid/overview.html Sun Grid], a grid computing deployment on which it offers utility computing services priced at $1 (US) per CPU/hour for processing and per GB/month for storage. This offering builds upon an existing 3,000-CPU server farm used for internal R&D for over 10 years, of which Sun claims to be able to achieve 97% utilization. Sun's software initiatives are increasingly making use of Open Source, most notably including Solaris via the OpenSolaris community. Sun's positioning includes a commitment to indemnify users of some software from intellectual property disputes concerning that software. The announced business model is the sale of support services on a variety of bases including per-employee and per-socket. Sun chooses not to carry some forms of insurance (such as earthquake insurance). In January 2005, Sun reported a net profit of $19 million for fiscal 2005 second quarter, for the first time in three years. This was followed by net loss of $9 mln on GAAP basis for the third quarter 2005, as reported on April 14, 2005. On June 2, 2005, Sun announced it would purchase Storage Technology Corporation ("Storagetek") for US$4.1 billion in cash, or $37.00 per share. If approved, the merger would create a company with approximately 39,000 employees. == Software == === Operating systems === The Sun 1 was shipped with Unisoft V7 UNIX. Later in 1982 Sun provided a customized 4.1BSD UNIX called SunOS as an operating system for its workstations. In 1992, along with AT&T, it integrated BSD UNIX and System V into Solaris Operating Environment, which as a result is based on UNIX SVR4. Sun offered a secure variant of Solaris called Trusted Solaris for releases before the current Solaris 10, which includes the same capabilities as part of the basic offering. Sun is also known for community-based and open-source licensing of its major technologies. Though a late adopter, it has included Linux as part of its strategy, following several years of difficult competition and loss of server market share to Linux-based systems. Recently, Sun has offered Linux-based desktop software called Java Desktop System (originally code-named "Madhatter") for use both on x86 hardware and on Sun's SunRay thin client systems. It has also announced plans to supply its Java Enterprise System (a middleware stack) on Linux. It has already released its newest OS, Solaris 10, under the open source Common Development and Distribution License. === Java platform === The Java platform, developed in the early 1990s was specifically developed with the objective of allowing programs to function regardless of the device they were used on, sparking the slogan "Write once, run everywhere". While this objective has not been achieved (prompting the riposte "Write once, debug everywhere"), Java is regarded as being largely hardware- and operating system-independent. Java was initially promoted as a platform for client-side ''applets'' running inside the web browser. This positioning was never very successful and while browser-based applications have had considerable success in displacing compiled applications on the desktop, Java has never been an important part of the web-browser experience. The platform consists of three major parts, the Java programming language, the Java Virtual Machine (JVM), and several Java API. The design of the Java platform is controlled by the vendor and user community through the Java Community Process (JCP). The Java programming language is an Object-oriented programming programming language. Since its introduction in late 1995, it has become one of the world's most popular programming languages. In order to allow programs written in the Java language to be run on (virtually) any device, Java programs are compiled to byte code, which can be executed by any JVM, regardless of the environment. The Java APIs provide an extensive set of library routines. The J2SE of the API provides basic infrastructure and GUI functionality, while the J2EE is aimed at large software companies implementing enterprise-class application servers. The J2ME is used to build software for devices with limited resources, such as mobile devices. ===Office suite=== Sun acquired the German software company StarDivision and with it StarOffice, which it released as the office suite OpenOffice.org under both GNU LGPL and the SISSL (Sun Industry Standards Source License). OpenOffice.org, often compared with Microsoft Office (a Microsoft spokesman has stated it is comparable to Office 97), is available on many platforms and widely used in the open source community. The current StarOffice product is a closed-source product based on OpenOffice.org. The principal differences between StarOffice and OpenOffice.org are that Sun supports it and it comes nicely packaged with extensive documentation, a wider range of fonts and templates and what Sun claims to be an improved dictionary and thesaurus. Whilst new releases of OpenOffice.org are relatively frequent, StarOffice follows a more conservative release schedule supposedly more suited to enterprise deployments. == Punchlines == *"Take it to the nth" *"We are the dot in the dot-com" *"We make the net work" *"The Network is the Computer" The "dot in the dot-com" one caused an outcry from many who felt that they are the true "dot". == See also == *Java Desktop System *Java Enterprise System *Java applet *Liberty Alliance *Solaris Operating Environment *Sun GridEngine == External links == Official Sun Information * [http://www.sun.com/ Official website] General Unofficial Sun Information * [http://www.sunhelp.org/ SunHELP - Sun News & Resources] * [http://www.sunstuff.org/ Online Sun Information ArcHive website] Sun 3 Unofficial Information * [http://sun3arc.org/ Sun3 Archive website] * [http://www.sun3zoo.de/ Sun3 Zoo website] Sun 2 Workstation * [http://web.cuzuco.com/~cuzuco/sun2/ Review from 1984] * [http://theory.lcs.mit.edu/~fredette/tme/index.html Sun2 Software Emulator] Sun Stories * [http://www.lyon-about.com/sun.html "The Early Days of Sun"] Liberty Alliance Project (Alternative to Microsoft_Corporation's Microsoft_Passport) *[http://www.projectliberty.org/ www.ProjectLiberty.org - Liberty Alliance Website] Computer companies of the United States Sun Microsystems Companies traded on NASDAQ Companies based in California bn:সান মাইক্রোসিস্টেম্স th:ซัน ไมโครซิสเต็มส์ vi:Sun Microsystems
==Old talk== I think that there was a ''Stanford University Network'' computer design that Joy, et. al. commerialized upon. The history should try to reflect that they based their work on research technology from the University. Cisco did this too with IOS and their first multi-protocol router. User:Kstailey 19:43, 9 Nov 2003 (UTC) : I think that's not quite correct. Andy cooked up some scary looking (wooden box) prototype, and he and Scott tried to sell it to Stanford. They called it the "Stanford University Network" computer, hoping this would facilitate a sale (but I ''think'' it didn't). If memory serves, this workstation wasn't based on any specific Stanford researches. I am sure that Bill wasn't initially involved, and didn't come in until they'd setup the company proper (and realised they had nothing to actually run on the thing). I'd put this in, but I (clearly) don't know the story quite straight enough to be sure. -- User:Finlay McWalter 20:53, 9 Nov 2003 (UTC) : Finlay is correct in saying that the "Stanford University Network" reference was mostly unrelated to Stanford itself. If my memory serves me correctly, Andy had developed the computer with off-the-shelf parts to help himself do CAD drawings. He did this while studying at Stanford, and I believe he was driven to build this system because he wanted to have a system all to himself to do his CAD drawings (otherwise his only choice was to battle his way onto the Stanford systems everyday). I believe that the original system had some sort of networking capability and would make it capable of being used throughout the Stanford campus (hence the Network reference in the acronym). Otherwise, I don't think that Stanford had any rights to the original design. Bill Joy joined Sun a year or more after the company had been formed and had no influence on the original development of the hardware that Andy had made at Stanford (I'm pretty sure about that). John Bartlett I SunRay is a diskless client, so unless that is considered another failed venture into diskless clients the first paragraph might have to be amended. User:Webhat 16:56, Feb 15, 2005 (UTC) : Yeah, and there's no entry for Sun Ray User:TimBray 06:14, 29 Mar 2005 (UTC) ==Klunky Language== Someone complained to me about some of the facts in here, but the writing is sufficiently klunky and horrible that I can hardly parse them. I am now doing a ton of mostly-for-style edits, when I get finished and we actually have something readable, feel free to come back and argue about the facts. If I change anything that feels material, I'll note it here. User:TimBray 04:36, 29 Mar 2005 (UTC) : This para was stuck in the "Hardware" section. I moved some of it into the "Java" section but re-wrote it heavily in the process. Parking the original here for now in case feelings are hurt: Sun also heavily promoted the Java programming language. Java achieved modest success as a tool for developing server-side Web applications and client-side Java applets. But because Sun was hopelessly inexperienced at supporting consumer needs, and Java suffered from severe structural flaws in its early versions, it was never able to displace Microsoft C++ and the Windows API as the primary technology powering client-side applications on consumer and corporate desktops. User:TimBray 04:50, 29 Mar 2005 (UTC) : OK, I'm done, at least it's in English now and all the sentences have subjects, verbs, and objects. Back to the NPOV wars. User:TimBray 06:14, 29 Mar 2005 (UTC) ==POV == Please explain what is "POV" in the following phrase, attempted to be deleted. :'' but Sun does not abandon its attempts of innovation in hardware, operation systems and user interface.'' User:Mikkalai 02:13, 16 Feb 2005 (UTC) :This is the English Wikipedia, so the English has to be reasonable. The clause above is poor English; in fact, it's not clear what it means. It also appears to be the editor's opinion. If it is someone else's opinion, please provide a reference or better still a quote. Also, there is nothing wrong with the deleted link. User:SlimVirgin 02:16, Feb 16, 2005 (UTC) ::External links are "necessary evil" they must be kept at minimum. the reasoin is simple: problems of maintenance. Wikipedia has no control over external links and thier content. There is nothing more frustrating than to browse thru dead links after some time. User:Mikkalai 02:30, 16 Feb 2005 (UTC) :::I would agree that the link to the Merrill analyst is now out of date and should go. Why not agree to remove that first? User:Webmink 03:35, Feb 16, 2005 (UTC) ::::I found the article very useful in explaining some of the background to the state of the company. It is not out of date, and I would like to retain it. User:SlimVirgin 03:42, Feb 16, 2005 (UTC) :::::I understand your position, but there are plenty of data points in the history of Sun of which this is but one. It was perhaps enlightening when it was written in 2003 but I feel it lacks sufficient context to still be valuable. What do others here think? User:Webmink 02:18, Feb 17, 2005 (UTC) :::::: Some other recommendations: (m:When should I link externally): *''If the content is free (in the w:GNU/FDL sense), consider copying and wikifying it for us. If its not, you can cannibalise it. Extract the facts and rewrite it (in your own words since their words are copyright) or alternatively place a link to it in /Talk so someone else can do so'' *''In short one shouldn't link externally to anything that we would like internally.''. :::::: Also, there was a policy under discussion with detailed examples of whats and whatnots: Wikipedia:External links/temp. But the discussion seems to die out. User:Mikkalai 02:54, 17 Feb 2005 (UTC) Okay Mikkalai, feel free to remove it. I won't revert again. And I apologize for the bad-English remark. You're right: I was mad at you over the other business. I am sorry. User:SlimVirgin 02:57, Feb 17, 2005 (UTC) While the mentioned article may look revealing, it is ridden with numerous blunders: *McNealy's brash, contrarian act is getting really "old." *Java, a distinguished "financial failure," *Sun's value added should be based on Solaris and systems expertise, not the chip (i.e., ''"use Intel"'' (whitten a bit higher)), to quote some. (And by the way, I am a long-time devotee of Wintel. Despite all badmouthing, its advantages for an average software developer like me are way beyond what sun/solaris or linux provide.) By the way, if you click "Join the Feedback to this item" link there, it looks that no one bothered to comment this text (but it could be that they don't archive the comments; I am not sure). As for the "state of the company", it was badly hit by Internet bubble, like many of us. And McNealy today acts exactly contrary to the most of the advices of the article, in his good "old" "contrarian act". User:Mikkalai 03:49, 17 Feb 2005 (UTC) ::Bad English is not the reason for deletion. If its bad, please fix it. People all around the world contribute here. If you start deleting everything on the basis of language, people will not understand you. Also, it is not an opinion, but a fact, confirmed by the whole article: sun is not stalled, it releases new products and services. I will try to rephrase to reflect this. User:Mikkalai 02:30, 16 Feb 2005 (UTC) The English is so poor that it's not clear what's meant. I tried to rewrite it but it's POV, editor's opinion, and the tense is not clear. Please leave it out or find a reference. This is an encyclopedia. User:SlimVirgin 02:33, Feb 16, 2005 (UTC) What is your opinion about "Its less successful ventures"? The goal of my text was to neutralize this phrase, criticized by Webhat above. Since I obviously failed, please help me to fix this. User:Mikkalai 03:07, 16 Feb 2005 (UTC) :You said you would find someone else to explain it to me, so I'd be grateful if you would do that. Many thanks, User:SlimVirgin 03:08, Feb 16, 2005 (UTC) == The issue of Java's suitability for applications... == Hello there: I think I put a reference in an earlier draft of this article to how Java was a complete failure for end-user applications (in addition to applets) but someone edited it out. Can anyone name a widely deployed, widely used, well-known end-user consumer application that is based in Java? And I'm talking about something more important than the NetZero dialer app (which, I will admit, is written in Java). The last time I checked, Corel's attempt to rewrite WordPerfect and CorelDRAW in Java had gone nowhere. The vast majority of consumers are still spending their computer time in apps that run on C or C++. Yes, there are many Java applications running inside corporations for limited purposes like HR, but it's one thing to deploy an app internally for 30,000 users (most of whom are between 25 and 55 years of age), and a whole different ball game to deploy a consumer app to 3 million people who might be of any age. --User:Coolcaesar 04:00, 3 Apr 2005 (UTC) : LimeWire; it gets downloaded 1.4 million times a week. Superb UI, even if you may end up with the RIAA heavies knocking your door down. User:TimBray 04:41, 3 Apr 2005 (UTC) :: Right, but is there any Java application used by consumers for a purpose that's not illegal and that's more than just a cute toy? I'm thinking of mainstream applications like word processing, tax preparation, photo editing, interior design, graphic design, etc. :: I know it sounds like I am looking for a way to slam Java, but I'm just a little bitter because (like Corel) I got suckered into the Java religion when it first came out. It's kind of frustrating that after ten years of Sun's broken promises, it's 2005 and the vast majority of consumers still turn on their computers every morning and load a certain suite of office applications owned by Bill Gates. :: My personal suspicion (as borne out by a discussion with a friend inside the company) is that the basic problem is that Sun has never been a consumer-oriented company; its executives failed to pull off the necessary switch in corporate culture. Of course, I will concede that doing so is not easy; Corel failed (which is why it went private and is retreating to target only specialized markets) and Intel and Microsoft barely pulled it off (having several well-documented near-death experiences along the way). --User:Coolcaesar 03:20, 8 Apr 2005 (UTC) ::: OK, so go over to the Java article and update it to say (if it doesn't already) that Java is much more widely used on server-side than client-side applications. User:TimBray 07:04, 8 Apr 2005 (UTC) == Market Cap == The phrase about the market cap dropping 90% in 3 years has re-appeared - I don't think this is correct. Checking Yahoo, (http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=SUNW&t=5y&l=off&z=m&q=l&c=), the share price is now about $4 - and in April 2002 it was about $10. OK, it has dropped 90% from its peak in September 2000, but I think for NPOV this needs to be tempered with the overhyping of Sun stock at the time, and the subsequent over-correction. -- User:Sigbusyff :The wording and the placing of the addition clearly shows malicious intent. I will add some numbers into the "Bubble" section. (or you may do it). User:Mikkalai 19:22, 7 Apr 2005 (UTC) ::Malicious intent? Excuse me, Mikkalai, but do you presume to be a mind reader? Sun is a company that has been performing dismally under its current CEO, and that is a fact, not a POV. I have no emotional stake in Sun's performance, being neither a customer nor a shareholder. What you're doing by removing this sentence is white-washing. :::Yes, it was a one-sided out-of-context personal attack. The neutral statement about market ups/down is in the section "The Bubble and Its Aftermath". While I agree that Sun could have done better, but it is very strange to put the blame for internet bubble burst on company leaders. Also, this article is not financial analysis. Market cap and stuff is what makes company attractive to speculative investors, but speaks nothing about company survival and progress. User:Mikkalai 15:35, 8 Apr 2005 (UTC) :::: I suspect that you have a personal interest in pretending that Sun is in better shape than it is. If you want this page to be your own personal playground, have at it. I don't care to fight with you about it. ::::: As a possible proof that I am not that fond of Sun, I say that I liked your addition about "debug everywhere". It reflects plainself-contained truth that speaks for itself. As for stocks... Of course, the fact that Sun stock was bloated and then sharply plummetted may be attributed to the same financial shortsightedness as the rest of the word: the fact that sun VIPs were no smarter than the rest is not an excuse for them. But the phrase about 90% drop torn out of context oversimplifies the matter big time. Stock is not live money. The fact that stocks were sky high meant that the investors were about to be ripped off, not that the companies were going to die when the stock go south, as all wisened market analysts race to tell you today. :::::And I am no way a judge of sun's shape, neither I have a reason to be (of course, you are free to disbelieve me). I am in EDA software business, not in chip/computer manufacturing. I am keeping my eye on Synopsys and Cadence Design Systems articles (my competitors), and, since I have a sun station on my desk, I look at Sun a bit. And if I'd seen the same phrase in any of the articles about companies I watch (believe me, or check for yourself, it is equally applicable to any of them), I would react exactly in the same way, for exactly the same reason. User:Mikkalai 06:43, 14 Apr 2005 (UTC) :I checked IBM, INTC, CSCO, HPQ, MSFT. All of them basically returned to the end-of 1998 level, with IBM landing a bit better, you know why. User:Mikkalai 19:56, 7 Apr 2005 (UTC) ::Thanks, your edits look good. -- User:Sigbusyff ==HQ?== I work for Sun, and whereas the nominal HQ may be in Santa Clara, the campus in Menlo Park has as much (probably more) executive presence. I think that the assertion that the HQ is in Santa Clara, and the paragraph about the Agnews/insane asylum, verges on misleading. I'd like to rewrite to something along the lines of "The company's headquarters is in Silicon Valley; there are large campuses in Menlo Park and Santa Clara (comprising several buildings previously part of an insane asylum). If nobody disagrees, I'll do that soon. User:TimBray 05:27, 25 Apr 2005 (UTC) :AFAIK HQ can be onpy in one place; this is an official designation for the company; it should be somewhere in financial information, visible e.g., at finance.yahoo.com, and of course at Sun home page, and it must be taken from an official text. But of course you may describe the actual state of affairs about executive presence, if it is not a classified or otherwise sensitive information :-) We don't want wikipedia sued. 16:45, 25 Apr 2005 (UTC) == did these guys invent the pop up add? == did these guys invent the pop up add? :I doubt it. Sun has done a lot of odd things, but I don't think they would be that crazy---I hope. --User:Coolcaesar 06:59, 4 May 2005 (UTC)
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#redirect Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems
:''SUN redirects here, for other meanings see SUN (disambiguation).'' Sun Microsystems is a computer, semiconductor and software manufacturer headquartered in Santa Clara, California, in Silicon Valley. Sun's manufacturing facilities are located in Hillsboro, Oregon and Linlithgow, Scotland. Sun's products include computer servers and workstations based on its own SPARC and AMD's Opteron Central processing units, the Solaris Operating Environment and Linux operating systems, the Network File System network file system, and the Java platform. Its less successful ventures have included the NeWS window system and the OpenLook graphical user interface. Sun Microsystem is headquartered on the west campus of Agnews Developmental Area in Santa Clara, California, which was formerly an insane asylum. The east branch is also owned by the company and is located in San Jose, California. == Brief history == The initial design for Sun's UNIX workstation was conceived when the founders were graduate students at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. The company name SUN originally stood for Stanford University Network (which is reflected in the company's stock symbol, SUNW, which now stands for Sun Worldwide). The company was incorporated in 1982 and went public in 1986. Its founders were Vinod Khosla, Scott McNealy, Bill Joy (a primary developer of Berkeley Software Distribution), and Andy Bechtolsheim; McNealy and Bechtolsheim remain at Sun. Other Sun luminaries include early employees John Gilmore and James Gosling. Sun was an early advocate of Unix-based networked computing, promoting TCP/IP and especially Network File System, as reflected in the company's motto "The Network Is The Computer". James Gosling led the team which developed the Java programming language. Most recently, Jon Bosak led the creation of the XML specification at W3C. Sun's logo, which features ambigram of the word ''sun'', was designed by professor Vaughan Pratt, also of Stanford University. The initial version of the logo had the sides oriented horizontally and vertically, but it was subsequently redesigned so as to appear to stand on one corner. == Hardware == Sun originally used the Motorola 68000 Central processing unit family for the Sun 1 through Sun 3 computer series. Starting with the Sun 4 line (SPARCstation 1 onwards), the company used its own processor family, SPARC, which employs an IEEE standard RISC architecture. Sun has implemented multiple high-end generations of the Sparc architecture, including ''Sparc-1'', ''SuperSparc'', ''UltraSparc-I'', ''UltraSparc-II'', ''UltraSparc-III'', and currently ''UltraSparc IV''. Sun also has a second line of lower cost processors meant for low-end systems which included the ''MicroSparc-I'', ''MicroSparc-II'', ''UltraSparc-IIi'', and ''UltraSparc-IIIi''. Sun has had a difficult time keeping up with its competitors' processors' clock speed and computing power, but its customer base has been fairly loyal due to the popularity of its SunOS (and later Solaris Operating Environment) versions of Unix. [[Image:sun_small.jpg|thumb|256px|The console of a Sun workstation running the X Window System]] For the first decade of Sun's history, the company was predominately a vendor of technical workstations, competing successfully as a low-cost vendor during the ''Workstation Wars'' of the 1980s. In the late-1990s, as Sun's workstations were lagging in performance when compared to that of their competitors and especially to Wintel Personal Computers, the company successfully transformed itself to a vendor of large-scale Symmetric multiprocessing servers. This transition was enabled by technology that was acquired from Silicon Graphics and Cray Research. The Cray ''CS-6400'' server line was transformed into the very successful Sun Enterprise 10000 and Sun Enterprise 450 mainframes. For a short period in the late 1980s, they sold an Intel 80386–based machine, the Sun 386i. An x86 port of Solaris has been available since then. Currently, Sun is again selling x86 hardware and has introduced a version of Solaris for AMD64. In the mid-1990s, Sun acquired Diba and Cobalt Networks with the aim of building ''network appliances'' (single function computers meant for consumers). Sun also marketed a ''network computer'' (diskless workstation, as popularized by Oracle Corporation CEO Larry Ellison). None of these business initiatives were particularly successful. Starting in the late 1990s, Sun highlighted symmetric multiprocessing to compete with the capabilities of Intel-based servers. Driven by the increased prominence of web-serving database-searching applications, ''blade server'' (high density rack-mounted systems) were also emphasized. ==The Bubble and Its Aftermath== During the dot-com bubble, Sun experienced dramatic growth in revenue, profits, share price, and expenses. Some part of this was due to genuine expansion of demand for web-serving cycles, but another part was synthetic, fueled by venture capital-funded startups building out large, expensive Sun-centric server presences in the expectation of high traffic levels that never materialized. The share price in particular increased to a level that even the company's executives were hard-pressed to defend. In response to this business growth, Sun expanded aggressively in all areas: head-count, infrastructure, and office space. The bursting of the bubble in 2001 was the start of a period of poor business performance for Sun, as the growth of online business failed to meet predictions. Multiple quarters of substantial losses and declining revenues have led to repeated rounds of layoffs, executive departures, and expense-reduction efforts. In 2002 the share price returned to the 1998 pre-bubble level, a pattern of escalation and decline comparable to other companies in the sector, and has hovered in the single digits since then. In mid-2004, Sun ceased manufacturing operations at their Newark, California facility and consolidated all of the company's US-based manufacturing operations to their Hillsboro, Oregon facility, as part of continued cost-reduction efforts. Many companies (like E*Trade and Google) chose to build Web applications based on large numbers of cheap PC-class Intel-architecture servers running Linux, rather than a smaller number of high-end Sun servers. They reported benefits including substantially lower expenses (both acquisition and maintenance) and greater flexibility based on the use of open source software. ==Present focus== In 2004, Sun cancelled two major processor projects which were emphasizing high instruction level parallelism and high operating frequency. Instead, the company chose to concentrate on processor projects emphasizing multi-threading and multiprocessing. The company also announced a collaboration with Fujitsu to use the Japanese company's processor chips in some future Sun computers. Finally, it has a strategic alliance with AMD to produce market-leading x86/x64 servers based on AMD's Opteron processor. To this end, it acquired Kaelia, a startup founded by original Sun founder Andy Bechtolsheim, which had been focusing on high-performance AMD-based servers. In February 2005, Sun announced the [http://www.sun.com/service/sungrid/overview.html Sun Grid], a grid computing deployment on which it offers utility computing services priced at $1 (US) per CPU/hour for processing and per GB/month for storage. This offering builds upon an existing 3,000-CPU server farm used for internal R&D for over 10 years, of which Sun claims to be able to achieve 97% utilization. Sun's software initiatives are increasingly making use of Open Source, most notably including Solaris via the OpenSolaris community. Sun's positioning includes a commitment to indemnify users of some software from intellectual property disputes concerning that software. The announced business model is the sale of support services on a variety of bases including per-employee and per-socket. Sun chooses not to carry some forms of insurance (such as earthquake insurance). In January 2005, Sun reported a net profit of $19 million for fiscal 2005 second quarter, for the first time in three years. This was followed by net loss of $9 mln on GAAP basis for the third quarter 2005, as reported on April 14, 2005. On June 2, 2005, Sun announced it would purchase Storage Technology Corporation ("Storagetek") for US$4.1 billion in cash, or $37.00 per share. If approved, the merger would create a company with approximately 39,000 employees. == Software == === Operating systems === The Sun 1 was shipped with Unisoft V7 UNIX. Later in 1982 Sun provided a customized 4.1BSD UNIX called SunOS as an operating system for its workstations. In 1992, along with AT&T, it integrated BSD UNIX and System V into Solaris Operating Environment, which as a result is based on UNIX SVR4. Sun offered a secure variant of Solaris called Trusted Solaris for releases before the current Solaris 10, which includes the same capabilities as part of the basic offering. Sun is also known for community-based and open-source licensing of its major technologies. Though a late adopter, it has included Linux as part of its strategy, following several years of difficult competition and loss of server market share to Linux-based systems. Recently, Sun has offered Linux-based desktop software called Java Desktop System (originally code-named "Madhatter") for use both on x86 hardware and on Sun's SunRay thin client systems. It has also announced plans to supply its Java Enterprise System (a middleware stack) on Linux. It has already released its newest OS, Solaris 10, under the open source Common Development and Distribution License. === Java platform === The Java platform, developed in the early 1990s was specifically developed with the objective of allowing programs to function regardless of the device they were used on, sparking the slogan "Write once, run everywhere". While this objective has not been achieved (prompting the riposte "Write once, debug everywhere"), Java is regarded as being largely hardware- and operating system-independent. Java was initially promoted as a platform for client-side ''applets'' running inside the web browser. This positioning was never very successful and while browser-based applications have had considerable success in displacing compiled applications on the desktop, Java has never been an important part of the web-browser experience. The platform consists of three major parts, the Java programming language, the Java Virtual Machine (JVM), and several Java API. The design of the Java platform is controlled by the vendor and user community through the Java Community Process (JCP). The Java programming language is an Object-oriented programming programming language. Since its introduction in late 1995, it has become one of the world's most popular programming languages. In order to allow programs written in the Java language to be run on (virtually) any device, Java programs are compiled to byte code, which can be executed by any JVM, regardless of the environment. The Java APIs provide an extensive set of library routines. The J2SE of the API provides basic infrastructure and GUI functionality, while the J2EE is aimed at large software companies implementing enterprise-class application servers. The J2ME is used to build software for devices with limited resources, such as mobile devices. ===Office suite=== Sun acquired the German software company StarDivision and with it StarOffice, which it released as the office suite OpenOffice.org under both GNU LGPL and the SISSL (Sun Industry Standards Source License). OpenOffice.org, often compared with Microsoft Office (a Microsoft spokesman has stated it is comparable to Office 97), is available on many platforms and widely used in the open source community. The current StarOffice product is a closed-source product based on OpenOffice.org. The principal differences between StarOffice and OpenOffice.org are that Sun supports it and it comes nicely packaged with extensive documentation, a wider range of fonts and templates and what Sun claims to be an improved dictionary and thesaurus. Whilst new releases of OpenOffice.org are relatively frequent, StarOffice follows a more conservative release schedule supposedly more suited to enterprise deployments. == Punchlines == *"Take it to the nth" *"We are the dot in the dot-com" *"We make the net work" *"The Network is the Computer" The "dot in the dot-com" one caused an outcry from many who felt that they are the true "dot". == See also == *Java Desktop System *Java Enterprise System *Java applet *Liberty Alliance *Solaris Operating Environment *Sun GridEngine == External links == Official Sun Information * [http://www.sun.com/ Official website] General Unofficial Sun Information * [http://www.sunhelp.org/ SunHELP - Sun News & Resources] * [http://www.sunstuff.org/ Online Sun Information ArcHive website] Sun 3 Unofficial Information * [http://sun3arc.org/ Sun3 Archive website] * [http://www.sun3zoo.de/ Sun3 Zoo website] Sun 2 Workstation * [http://web.cuzuco.com/~cuzuco/sun2/ Review from 1984] * [http://theory.lcs.mit.edu/~fredette/tme/index.html Sun2 Software Emulator] Sun Stories * [http://www.lyon-about.com/sun.html "The Early Days of Sun"] Liberty Alliance Project (Alternative to Microsoft_Corporation's Microsoft_Passport) *[http://www.projectliberty.org/ www.ProjectLiberty.org - Liberty Alliance Website] Computer companies of the United States Sun Microsystems Companies traded on NASDAQ Companies based in California bn:সান মাইক্রোসিস্টেম্স th:ซัน ไมโครซิสเต็มส์ vi:Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems
==Old talk== I think that there was a ''Stanford University Network'' computer design that Joy, et. al. commerialized upon. The history should try to reflect that they based their work on research technology from the University. Cisco did this too with IOS and their first multi-protocol router. User:Kstailey 19:43, 9 Nov 2003 (UTC) : I think that's not quite correct. Andy cooked up some scary looking (wooden box) prototype, and he and Scott tried to sell it to Stanford. They called it the "Stanford University Network" computer, hoping this would facilitate a sale (but I ''think'' it didn't). If memory serves, this workstation wasn't based on any specific Stanford researches. I am sure that Bill wasn't initially involved, and didn't come in until they'd setup the company proper (and realised they had nothing to actually run on the thing). I'd put this in, but I (clearly) don't know the story quite straight enough to be sure. -- User:Finlay McWalter 20:53, 9 Nov 2003 (UTC) : Finlay is correct in saying that the "Stanford University Network" reference was mostly unrelated to Stanford itself. If my memory serves me correctly, Andy had developed the computer with off-the-shelf parts to help himself do CAD drawings. He did this while studying at Stanford, and I believe he was driven to build this system because he wanted to have a system all to himself to do his CAD drawings (otherwise his only choice was to battle his way onto the Stanford systems everyday). I believe that the original system had some sort of networking capability and would make it capable of being used throughout the Stanford campus (hence the Network reference in the acronym). Otherwise, I don't think that Stanford had any rights to the original design. Bill Joy joined Sun a year or more after the company had been formed and had no influence on the original development of the hardware that Andy had made at Stanford (I'm pretty sure about that). John Bartlett I SunRay is a diskless client, so unless that is considered another failed venture into diskless clients the first paragraph might have to be amended. User:Webhat 16:56, Feb 15, 2005 (UTC) : Yeah, and there's no entry for Sun Ray User:TimBray 06:14, 29 Mar 2005 (UTC) ==Klunky Language== Someone complained to me about some of the facts in here, but the writing is sufficiently klunky and horrible that I can hardly parse them. I am now doing a ton of mostly-for-style edits, when I get finished and we actually have something readable, feel free to come back and argue about the facts. If I change anything that feels material, I'll note it here. User:TimBray 04:36, 29 Mar 2005 (UTC) : This para was stuck in the "Hardware" section. I moved some of it into the "Java" section but re-wrote it heavily in the process. Parking the original here for now in case feelings are hurt: Sun also heavily promoted the Java programming language. Java achieved modest success as a tool for developing server-side Web applications and client-side Java applets. But because Sun was hopelessly inexperienced at supporting consumer needs, and Java suffered from severe structural flaws in its early versions, it was never able to displace Microsoft C++ and the Windows API as the primary technology powering client-side applications on consumer and corporate desktops. User:TimBray 04:50, 29 Mar 2005 (UTC) : OK, I'm done, at least it's in English now and all the sentences have subjects, verbs, and objects. Back to the NPOV wars. User:TimBray 06:14, 29 Mar 2005 (UTC) ==POV == Please explain what is "POV" in the following phrase, attempted to be deleted. :'' but Sun does not abandon its attempts of innovation in hardware, operation systems and user interface.'' User:Mikkalai 02:13, 16 Feb 2005 (UTC) :This is the English Wikipedia, so the English has to be reasonable. The clause above is poor English; in fact, it's not clear what it means. It also appears to be the editor's opinion. If it is someone else's opinion, please provide a reference or better still a quote. Also, there is nothing wrong with the deleted link. User:SlimVirgin 02:16, Feb 16, 2005 (UTC) ::External links are "necessary evil" they must be kept at minimum. the reasoin is simple: problems of maintenance. Wikipedia has no control over external links and thier content. There is nothing more frustrating than to browse thru dead links after some time. User:Mikkalai 02:30, 16 Feb 2005 (UTC) :::I would agree that the link to the Merrill analyst is now out of date and should go. Why not agree to remove that first? User:Webmink 03:35, Feb 16, 2005 (UTC) ::::I found the article very useful in explaining some of the background to the state of the company. It is not out of date, and I would like to retain it. User:SlimVirgin 03:42, Feb 16, 2005 (UTC) :::::I understand your position, but there are plenty of data points in the history of Sun of which this is but one. It was perhaps enlightening when it was written in 2003 but I feel it lacks sufficient context to still be valuable. What do others here think? User:Webmink 02:18, Feb 17, 2005 (UTC) :::::: Some other recommendations: (m:When should I link externally): *''If the content is free (in the w:GNU/FDL sense), consider copying and wikifying it for us. If its not, you can cannibalise it. Extract the facts and rewrite it (in your own words since their words are copyright) or alternatively place a link to it in /Talk so someone else can do so'' *''In short one shouldn't link externally to anything that we would like internally.''. :::::: Also, there was a policy under discussion with detailed examples of whats and whatnots: Wikipedia:External links/temp. But the discussion seems to die out. User:Mikkalai 02:54, 17 Feb 2005 (UTC) Okay Mikkalai, feel free to remove it. I won't revert again. And I apologize for the bad-English remark. You're right: I was mad at you over the other business. I am sorry. User:SlimVirgin 02:57, Feb 17, 2005 (UTC) While the mentioned article may look revealing, it is ridden with numerous blunders: *McNealy's brash, contrarian act is getting really "old." *Java, a distinguished "financial failure," *Sun's value added should be based on Solaris and systems expertise, not the chip (i.e., ''"use Intel"'' (whitten a bit higher)), to quote some. (And by the way, I am a long-time devotee of Wintel. Despite all badmouthing, its advantages for an average software developer like me are way beyond what sun/solaris or linux provide.) By the way, if you click "Join the Feedback to this item" link there, it looks that no one bothered to comment this text (but it could be that they don't archive the comments; I am not sure). As for the "state of the company", it was badly hit by Internet bubble, like many of us. And McNealy today acts exactly contrary to the most of the advices of the article, in his good "old" "contrarian act". User:Mikkalai 03:49, 17 Feb 2005 (UTC) ::Bad English is not the reason for deletion. If its bad, please fix it. People all around the world contribute here. If you start deleting everything on the basis of language, people will not understand you. Also, it is not an opinion, but a fact, confirmed by the whole article: sun is not stalled, it releases new products and services. I will try to rephrase to reflect this. User:Mikkalai 02:30, 16 Feb 2005 (UTC) The English is so poor that it's not clear what's meant. I tried to rewrite it but it's POV, editor's opinion, and the tense is not clear. Please leave it out or find a reference. This is an encyclopedia. User:SlimVirgin 02:33, Feb 16, 2005 (UTC) What is your opinion about "Its less successful ventures"? The goal of my text was to neutralize this phrase, criticized by Webhat above. Since I obviously failed, please help me to fix this. User:Mikkalai 03:07, 16 Feb 2005 (UTC) :You said you would find someone else to explain it to me, so I'd be grateful if you would do that. Many thanks, User:SlimVirgin 03:08, Feb 16, 2005 (UTC) == The issue of Java's suitability for applications... == Hello there: I think I put a reference in an earlier draft of this article to how Java was a complete failure for end-user applications (in addition to applets) but someone edited it out. Can anyone name a widely deployed, widely used, well-known end-user consumer application that is based in Java? And I'm talking about something more important than the NetZero dialer app (which, I will admit, is written in Java). The last time I checked, Corel's attempt to rewrite WordPerfect and CorelDRAW in Java had gone nowhere. The vast majority of consumers are still spending their computer time in apps that run on C or C++. Yes, there are many Java applications running inside corporations for limited purposes like HR, but it's one thing to deploy an app internally for 30,000 users (most of whom are between 25 and 55 years of age), and a whole different ball game to deploy a consumer app to 3 million people who might be of any age. --User:Coolcaesar 04:00, 3 Apr 2005 (UTC) : LimeWire; it gets downloaded 1.4 million times a week. Superb UI, even if you may end up with the RIAA heavies knocking your door down. User:TimBray 04:41, 3 Apr 2005 (UTC) :: Right, but is there any Java application used by consumers for a purpose that's not illegal and that's more than just a cute toy? I'm thinking of mainstream applications like word processing, tax preparation, photo editing, interior design, graphic design, etc. :: I know it sounds like I am looking for a way to slam Java, but I'm just a little bitter because (like Corel) I got suckered into the Java religion when it first came out. It's kind of frustrating that after ten years of Sun's broken promises, it's 2005 and the vast majority of consumers still turn on their computers every morning and load a certain suite of office applications owned by Bill Gates. :: My personal suspicion (as borne out by a discussion with a friend inside the company) is that the basic problem is that Sun has never been a consumer-oriented company; its executives failed to pull off the necessary switch in corporate culture. Of course, I will concede that doing so is not easy; Corel failed (which is why it went private and is retreating to target only specialized markets) and Intel and Microsoft barely pulled it off (having several well-documented near-death experiences along the way). --User:Coolcaesar 03:20, 8 Apr 2005 (UTC) ::: OK, so go over to the Java article and update it to say (if it doesn't already) that Java is much more widely used on server-side than client-side applications. User:TimBray 07:04, 8 Apr 2005 (UTC) == Market Cap == The phrase about the market cap dropping 90% in 3 years has re-appeared - I don't think this is correct. Checking Yahoo, (http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=SUNW&t=5y&l=off&z=m&q=l&c=), the share price is now about $4 - and in April 2002 it was about $10. OK, it has dropped 90% from its peak in September 2000, but I think for NPOV this needs to be tempered with the overhyping of Sun stock at the time, and the subsequent over-correction. -- User:Sigbusyff :The wording and the placing of the addition clearly shows malicious intent. I will add some numbers into the "Bubble" section. (or you may do it). User:Mikkalai 19:22, 7 Apr 2005 (UTC) ::Malicious intent? Excuse me, Mikkalai, but do you presume to be a mind reader? Sun is a company that has been performing dismally under its current CEO, and that is a fact, not a POV. I have no emotional stake in Sun's performance, being neither a customer nor a shareholder. What you're doing by removing this sentence is white-washing. :::Yes, it was a one-sided out-of-context personal attack. The neutral statement about market ups/down is in the section "The Bubble and Its Aftermath". While I agree that Sun could have done better, but it is very strange to put the blame for internet bubble burst on company leaders. Also, this article is not financial analysis. Market cap and stuff is what makes company attractive to speculative investors, but speaks nothing about company survival and progress. User:Mikkalai 15:35, 8 Apr 2005 (UTC) :::: I suspect that you have a personal interest in pretending that Sun is in better shape than it is. If you want this page to be your own personal playground, have at it. I don't care to fight with you about it. ::::: As a possible proof that I am not that fond of Sun, I say that I liked your addition about "debug everywhere". It reflects plainself-contained truth that speaks for itself. As for stocks... Of course, the fact that Sun stock was bloated and then sharply plummetted may be attributed to the same financial shortsightedness as the rest of the word: the fact that sun VIPs were no smarter than the rest is not an excuse for them. But the phrase about 90% drop torn out of context oversimplifies the matter big time. Stock is not live money. The fact that stocks were sky high meant that the investors were about to be ripped off, not that the companies were going to die when the stock go south, as all wisened market analysts race to tell you today. :::::And I am no way a judge of sun's shape, neither I have a reason to be (of course, you are free to disbelieve me). I am in EDA software business, not in chip/computer manufacturing. I am keeping my eye on Synopsys and Cadence Design Systems articles (my competitors), and, since I have a sun station on my desk, I look at Sun a bit. And if I'd seen the same phrase in any of the articles about companies I watch (believe me, or check for yourself, it is equally applicable to any of them), I would react exactly in the same way, for exactly the same reason. User:Mikkalai 06:43, 14 Apr 2005 (UTC) :I checked IBM, INTC, CSCO, HPQ, MSFT. All of them basically returned to the end-of 1998 level, with IBM landing a bit better, you know why. User:Mikkalai 19:56, 7 Apr 2005 (UTC) ::Thanks, your edits look good. -- User:Sigbusyff ==HQ?== I work for Sun, and whereas the nominal HQ may be in Santa Clara, the campus in Menlo Park has as much (probably more) executive presence. I think that the assertion that the HQ is in Santa Clara, and the paragraph about the Agnews/insane asylum, verges on misleading. I'd like to rewrite to something along the lines of "The company's headquarters is in Silicon Valley; there are large campuses in Menlo Park and Santa Clara (comprising several buildings previously part of an insane asylum). If nobody disagrees, I'll do that soon. User:TimBray 05:27, 25 Apr 2005 (UTC) :AFAIK HQ can be onpy in one place; this is an official designation for the company; it should be somewhere in financial information, visible e.g., at finance.yahoo.com, and of course at Sun home page, and it must be taken from an official text. But of course you may describe the actual state of affairs about executive presence, if it is not a classified or otherwise sensitive information :-) We don't want wikipedia sued. 16:45, 25 Apr 2005 (UTC) == did these guys invent the pop up add? == did these guys invent the pop up add? :I doubt it. Sun has done a lot of odd things, but I don't think they would be that crazy---I hope. --User:Coolcaesar 06:59, 4 May 2005 (UTC)
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