Sun Microsystems on Tuesday delayed plans to release an Intel-compatible version of its forthcoming Solaris 9 operating system, the latest slight in a long and often edgy relationship between the two companies.
Sun had originally planned to release two configurations of the latest version of its Unix operating system: one for its own UltraSparc chips and one for 32-bit Intel Xeon and Pentium chips. But, said Sun executives, because of economic cutbacks, the company will only release Solaris for UltraSparc processors when the new OS ships later this year.
"We retain the option to do (Solaris on Intel) in the future," said Graham Lovell, Sun's director of Solaris product marketing. "But given where we are with the economy, we'd rather focus on our bottom line and make sure we spend our money wisely. We'd rather defer Solaris on Intel to a later date."
IDC analyst Dan Kusnetzky said Sun's plans make sense; the company makes the brunt of its profits from Solaris on UltraSparc.
News source: Cnet
