===================================== From: Brigitte Mouchet The following is an email interview of Scott McNealy for a Swedish journalist. I have been granted permission to post this. Please let me or Brigitte know what you think of this type of interview. -johnj ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Interview with Scott McNealy Chairman of the Board, President, and CEO Sun Microsystems, Inc. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ TO: Stefan Akerwall, PC World, Sweden FROM: Scott G. McNealy, Sun Microsystems, Inc. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1. What makes Sun the most successful workstation vendor in the market? ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ If I were to go back in time and shrink-wrap a 1945 Chevrolet, keep it in mint condition and give it to you today, it would be worth a lot more than the day it was sold. But if I were to give you a mint condition, 45-year old computer, it would be worth very little. Why? While cars are fundamentally a commodity, they are very different from computers. A '45 Chevrolet still retains its basic functionality when compared to the modern equivalent, yet has also increased its perceived value as a classic design. By contrast, we are continually improving both functionality and design in computing. Because of rapid advancements in technology such as I/O bandwidth and processing power each generation of computing is incomparable with the last. Our success reflects our customers. Whether they are software developers, technical professionals or commercial companies they have one thing in common: they are using information technology to gain competitive advantage. Sun has remained the industry's leading UNIX desktop according to industry analysts from IDC because of our technology innovations, our focus on customer satisfaction and our commitment to add value. To achieve this, our customers play a major role in providing feedback as we design our new products. In addition to our historical lead in terms of time-to-market with innovative technologies, we have continued to make the correct trade-offs in terms of price, functionality and performance, assuring customers the best price/performance ratios. Many people don't realize the breadth of Sun's technology or just how far UNIX has penetrated commercial enterprises. According to IDC, we are also the leading UNIX systems provider. This means that we provide robust servers which are meeting the business needs of departments as well as entire commercial enterprises. Our strength in this area is solid understanding of support and integration needs, as our customers rapidly re-engineer and rightsize onto a UNIX-based platform. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 2. What is the greatest advantage of a workstation compared to a PC? +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Our desktops offer an unbeatable combination of processing power, SPARC and Solaris technologies, and networking capabilities that no PC vendor can match. Our value has always been, and will continue to be, the full integration of our systems. What are the benefits to users and software developers? They can depend on complete binary compatibility from the smallest desktop to the most powerful departmental server platform. They can also rely on a robust Solaris operating system and a proven networking capability. All together, Sun offers the best, most adaptable and popular software development environment in the industry. For the majority of software vendors today, the broad installation base-- and more important the tremendous growth of UNIX--makes porting to UNIX a standard check-off item for any application that must have large market penetration. I can think of a number of areas in which Sun provides unique advantages over PCs. For a start, our base-level technologies, such as audio, internal CD-ROM and floppies, are built into the desktop. Second, customers want reliable departmental and enterprise-wide desktops and servers that are both binary compatible and scalable from bottom to top. They also want to empower employees through better networking communications, both within and between workgroups. Some PC users aren't aware of the fact that leading PC applications also run on Sun, as are thousands of technical applications that aren't available to the PC. And they run even better on Sun because our systems provide 32-bit advanced operating system features such as multitasking. We have also integrated 16 critical workgroup applications such as group calendaring, integrated electronic mail and file management. Another very old myth about UNIX systems is that UNIX is difficult to use. In fact, today's UNIX systems include sophisticated user interfaces that reflect the latest thinking in graphical interfaces. The combination of well-integrated desktop management tools, pull-down menus, icons, mouse-driven commands, extensive help facilities and large monitors make UNIX intuitive for the user. A parallel myth is that UNIX systems are expensive. For a few years now, UNIX desktops have offered more value than PC systems when similarly equipped. It is possible to get a UNIX workstation, with greater performance than a high end PC and with built-in networking, high capacity disk, high- resolution monitor, true multi-tasking, an industrial- strength development environment and all the other ready-to- go features now common on UNIX -- for less than $3,000. As businesses continue to re-engineer to cut cost and gain competitive edge, Sun provides a clear advantage by increasing the productivity of the workgroup. Excelling in the client/server environment, we have designed our systems around the concept that 'the network is the computer'. Today, distributed networked computing is a model broadly embraced by businesses worldwide. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 3. HP has started to ship its 712 series of workstations. It's a bi-endian machine and thereby ready to run Windows NT (even if HP doesn't intend to do it). Do you have any plans to port Windows NT to Sun hardware, or do you consider WABI to be a good enough alternative? ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Over the past few months, Microsoft has re-positioned NT to target the server and data center environment and has started pushing Chicago as the strategic desktop platform. To date, I think they have shipped only a small proportion of their originally projected sales. Combined with NT's relative newness, there will be a much smaller set of desktop-oriented applications available than are found for DOS, Windows or UNIX today. WABI is not intended to replace NT and we currently see limited need for incorporating support for NT. WABI is bundled with every Sun desktop and offers excellent performance for Windows users. Combined with the recently announced Macintosh Application Environment (MAE) it also allows our customers to integrate UNIX with their popular Intel-based and Macintosh desktop applications. This level of integration, combined with the unsurpassed networking capabilities of UNIX, is a concept we have coined 'the universal desktop'. Intergraph Corporation has announced its intention to port and sell NT-based SPARC systems through an agreement with Sun's SPARC Technology Business (STB), in our ongoing effort to lead the way in open computing offering users options based on the SPARC platform. Our own commitment remains to Solaris as the leading 32-bit operating environment in both the desktop and server space. The real decision for customers considering NT is whether they can trust their business to an unproven 32-bit operating system versus the proven performance of Solaris. For server- based software such as databases, manufacturing and human resources, my experience is that users want maximum performance that can only be achieved in native mode. Most of the key applications already run on Solaris, or are currently being moved from mainframes and minicomputers. Solaris is simply a richer environment for running critical applications. Bear in mind that addressing the enterprise network and data center means providing more than just a good operating system. It means providing excellent user, system and network administration tools, along with extensive security capabilities. It means allowing people to do their job, by providing transparent access to resources through connectivity to a single unified network. It means having an integration, consulting and maintenance organization that can understand the challenges facing a corporate entity. It means providing access to mission-critical applications that really improve productivity rather than simply automate a single task. With partners such as Oracle, SAP, EDS, Lotus and WordPerfect, Sun can provide customers with the best, most adaptable solution. One which NT has a long way to go to match. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 4. Will WABI support NT and Chicago applications? ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The product strategy for WABI is to support most popular Windows applications and this is likely to include Chicago and NT applications in the future. We have not yet made any announcements. Incidentally, because WABI is already a 32-bit application it will be well suited to support 32-bit Windows applications. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 5. Does UNIX have a future on the desktop or will it stay in the background on the server? ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Customers have aggressively embraced open systems as an alternative to the constrained world of proprietary computing, giving them greater freedom of choice in areas such as performance, expandability, price, ability of the vendor and so on. Perhaps not surprisingly, while users are excited by this new-found freedom, they still demand consistency, simplicity and maximum return on investment. They want a single operating environment that will run the majority (or all) of the applications across the network. In a world where we're constantly asked to do more with less, that's incredibly important. A single operating system can help leverage resources better. People resources, for example, still account for a huge proportion of the technology department's budget. The development dollar can be better leveraged by developing only once and re-compiling for each new instruction set. Skills can be re-used without the need for extensive re-training. Standardizing on one application across the enterprise also improves purchasing power through economies of scale, and all kinds of administration and security issues can be simplified. Operating systems like Solaris that provide this degreee of flexibility, yet are capable of running the same applications across multiple platforms, with the same programming interfaces, tools, utilities and built-in productivity applications, provide a great future for UNIX on the desktop. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 6. What is the greatest advantage of the SPARC chip compared to Intel chips? +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Sun's SPARC strategy is to deliver 2x Intel's highest performance at a competitive price. Our recently published roadmap outlines this,and our strategy is to deliver products based on this performance. UltraSPARC, for example, is expected to deliver ~270SPECint92 and will be sampling later this year. On top of this, SPARC is open and allows for multiple implementations, through companies such as Fujitsu, Texas Instruments and LSI Logic. In announcing our recent extension of the Sun-Fujitsu joint development pact, we outlined an aggressive R&D program that will result in future families of chips above UltraSPARC that will continue to provide the industry's highest price/performance. +++++++++++++++++++++++ 7. Personal Questions. +++++++++++++++++++++++ o Title: Chairman of the Board, President, and CEO Sun Microsystems, Inc. o Education: Harvard and Stanford o Achievements: 12 profitable years in the computer industry (c) 1994 Sun Microsystems ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The SunFlash - A Full-Text On Demand Newsletter John J. McLaughlin Publisher & Editor - flash@FlashBack.COM Subscriptions to Majordomo@FlashBack.COM Article Requests to flashback@FlashBack.COM Article Submissions to Flash@FlashBack.COM For a general introduction send email to Flashback@FlashBack.COM with 9001 in the Subject line. For the October 1994 table of contents make the Subject line: 70.00 1050 5013 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++