

Sun/Oracle removed public firmware downloads - viraptor
http://techbert.tumblr.com/post/569726833/sun-oracle-removed-public-firmware-downloads

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boris
Oracle removed public downloads of pretty much everything except the initial
releases of some products. Patches for Solaris, Sun Studio, etc., all require
paid support ("entitlement" in Oracle speak). So if you had a Solaris
installation and hit some bugs, your only choice is to re-install using the
latest release, provided it is available. For Sun Studio the situation is even
more insane: traditionally the initial releases of their C/C++ compiler were
always so buggy that it required immediate patching to make them usable. And
since Sun historically does not release updates for their compilers (unlike
Solaris), this makes Sun Studio pretty much useless unless you have paid for
support.

The firmware story is hilarious. You should go read some comments on Sun's
website. People bought Sun hardware and when they went to download drivers to
make that hardware work with their OS, they were told they needed to pay for
"software support" to get them. What they got with hardware was apparently
"hardware support" and it doesn't cover drivers/firmware. One word: insane.

~~~
viraptor
> when they went to download drivers to make that hardware work with their OS,
> they were told they needed to pay for "software support"

I smell a class action lawsuit if that's true. It's one thing to make
obtaining the drivers more difficult, but completely something else to remove
access to something already offered and available to users when they paid for
hardware. (PS3 otheros comes to mind now...)

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pilib
Huh. I guess that after recent changes (Solaris downloads, etc.), most people
will find alternative vendors in both hardware and software arena.

It's not like there's no competition anyways. It is funny though, that a
company like Sun, after acquisition by Oracle is deploying procedures we more
commonly associate with IBM, HP, and other behemoths of the IT world.

~~~
viraptor
Wait - you don't associate Oracle with a behemoth? You know they target large
corporations and will happily recommend you to buy a cluster of 64GB 8+ core
machines, right? Have a look at validated configurations... I can think of
only one larger database company, but they design stuff for you from scratch.

~~~
pilib
heh, I do actually, maybe I should have phrased it better ;).

My point was, Sun was trying to be a hip and modern company, open sourcing a
lot of their work, and then Oracle bought them and in the best impersonation
of Eric Cartman, just said "you damn hippies" :), and fucked all that effort
up.

I did expect it to happen, but I'm still sad it did happen.

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BonoboBoner
If they force me to pay for the JRE, I will switch to Python subito.

~~~
mstevens
I'm starting to worry about the future of clojure, given that it's based on
the JVM.

~~~
rbanffy
You can use the OpenJDK to host Clojure.

At least until Oracle decides they want to collect some money for all Sun
patents they bought with the package.

Oh boy... This is getting really nasty real quick.

~~~
mstevens
Yes, there's OpenJDK, but I'm a bit suspicious over whether enough of a
community has built up around OpenJDK to continue development without Sun
support.

I'd be delighted to be proved wrong, of course.

~~~
rbanffy
Me too. I really don't like Java the language, but the JVM is a really cool
platform to host your code on.

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c00p3r
Nothing to see here. Oracle want its own, totally controlled market, with
their hardware and their software, like that IBM have.

You want support - pay us. You want updates - pay us. You want JRE - pay us
(coming soon =)

~~~
viraptor
I could understand such system for new downloads... but this just seems
insane. They had to implement a new system, change the old one, retrain the
phone monkeys and then waste time of both the support guys and their managers,
because the issue is not easy to resolve. They might potentially gain some new
annoyed support customers, but the rest will not be likely to go for Sun
hardware in the future if they have a choice.

Is alienating customers ever a good choice? Apple's new rules, Facebook
privacy, now Oracle... who's next?

~~~
c00p3r
It seems like the easiest way to make money in the post-opensource era - pay a
small sum for your each move. =)

~~~
barrkel
I think the sum will have to be fairly substantial. The cost of involving
support, or any kind of human contact, in the chain between needing a download
and getting it is likely tens of thousands times more expensive than
maintaining a self-service system.

It's the enterprise sales model, where software contracts are measured in
megabucks, because to do anything cheaper would be more expensive than the
cost of sales. I think relying on anything from Sun that Oracle can likely
find a way to charge for would be foolish, unless you're big enough to afford
those kinds of costs.

~~~
hga
Well, if they're sane enough to fix this (not requiring the opening of a
"formal service case") for all hardware bought before March 16th....

I suppose we will be able to judge the likelihood of their success by if, how
and how quickly they fix this.

