Why Did Sun "Overlook" Microsoft?

Dennis Byron submits: On September 5, Sun (now (JAVA) on the ticker) met with NYC financial analysts covering a wide range of issues. The meeting had a heavy emphasis on partnering and channels as the two key tactics that will revive growth for Sun’s systems, storage and networking businesses. There were formal presentations by Sun executives and questions from the analysts about the IBM (IBM) and Intel (INTC) partnering agreements as well as an agreement with Juniper Networks (JNPR).

On September 5, I didn’t hear any mention of or questions about another “long-time” Sun partner, Microsoft (MSFT) (40 months being a long time in the Internet era). Yet the first major partnering news out of Sun, post the NYC meeting, is the September 12 announcement dramatically expanding the Microsoft/Sun relationship.

Sun is to become a Windows Server OEM across the entirety of Sun’s product line. Previously, Sun certified Windows on x64 systems but now Sun will pre-install the technology. The deal does not include other Windows components but this arrangement is similar to what Microsoft does with other hardware partners. Systems integrators and other Microsoft partners add the other Windows components such as Exchange, SharePoint and so forth. As an example of how partners might use the pair, they said that together they will be implementing AT&T’s (T) interactive TV on a Sun/Windows platform.

In addition, on September 5, the technology topic of the day was virtualization. Again, there was no mention of Microsoft. On September 12, Sun and Microsoft said the two companies would collaborate closely on cross-platform virtualization. To be fair, at the 9/5/2007 NYC meeting, Jonathan Schwartz did say that most virtualization today is about Windows workgroup servers and compared Solaris as a virtualization platform against Windows and Red Hat (RHT) Enterprise Linux.

Because Solaris has virtualization built in, even into its storage solutions, the deal makes sense for Microsoft. And the growth of the Sun x64 business provides Microsoft a good channel for its products, perhaps balancing any business it might be losing to Linux/Unix servers from hardware distributors that were formerly exclusively Windows dealers. Microsoft cited recent IDC numbers on why Sun would care to hook up with people that want Windows.

Sun said twice that 100% of its customers use both Solaris and Windows; I have a problem with that statistic logically (I am checking with Sun on its meaning), but it proves our research findings that users really want open choice, not just open source or just Microsoft.

This agreement represents a continuation of work on web services, interoperability, identity management, thin clients, and other technologies since the big Sun/Microsoft legal settlement in 2004. Specifically, Sun incorporated Microsoft’s storage APIs and Microsoft systems management APIs, and the two did a lot of .NET/J2EE –that’s what the Sun guy called it—interoperability efforts.

So why was there no mention of Microsoft by Sun on September 5?

I wonder if it is because of the ongoing Open Source Initiative controversy with Microsoft over the MS-PL license. Or is it because Bill Gates gave his going-away speech to Microsoft employees last week in Seattle and Jonathan did not want to preempt Gates’ chance to sing Sun’s praises? Maybe it’s because Sun is paying so much to lobby governments all over the world in favor of the Open Document Format, which competes with Microsoft’s OOXML. Does it have anything to do with left-wing anti-war advertising by the Democratic party or Christian conservatism (breaking the old rule about politics and religion in one sentence)?

Or could it simply be that Microsoft is not a strategic partner in Sun’s opinion, despite the September 12 PR? Sun said in NYC that strategically it does not want to “retail other company’s technologies.” But no, that’s too simple and straightforward a reason.