The Real Story about Sun’s on again, off again approach to Linux

- February 2002:  Sun CEO Scott McNealy dons a penguin suit and says, “We love Linux, and I hope there isn't any doubt about it…" ³

- September 2003:  Sun Executive (now President) Jonathan Schwartz was quoted as saying, “Also, let me be really clear about our Linux strategy. We don't have one. We don't at all. We do not believe that Linux plays a role on the server. Period. If you want to buy it, we will sell it to you, but we believe that Solaris is a better alternative...”," ⁴

- August  2004:  The Sun executive vice president for software, is quoted in a Sun press release saying, “Sun's commitment to Linux and the Linux community is stronger than ever,…" ⁵

- September 2004:  Sun President Jonathan Schwartz was quoted as saying, ”We are absolutely targeting Red Hat specifically" as a competitor.  ⁶

- September 2005:  Sun President Jonathan Schwartz was quoted as saying, “Stay tuned on the Red Hat-Sun relationship," ... "We think there's ample opportunity to work together out there." ⁷

- September 2006:  Sun releases its “Replace Red Hat” campaign saying “Give the Hat the boot”.  ⁸

- Linux indemnification – since 2003

- HP continues to be No. 1 in total worldwide factory revenue and units Linux.  In the most recent IDC reporting period Linux server units by 32.7 percent year-over-year, significantly faster than the market in units and factory revenue, gaining 5 percentage points of unit market share.⁹ 

- HP Open Source Middleware Stacks: Pre-tested solution building blocks and blueprints plus Consulting Services for integrated open source software and Linux environments

- Extensive Linux Distribution Support:  HP support for Red Hat, Novell SUSE, Debian and the Asianux foundation of Miracle, Red Flag and Haansoft.

If you are looking for a vendor that does not waiver about Linux or want more information on why more Sun customers are choosing HP, click here.