[zeugma]

I'm still not entirely sure what the allure of running Linux on Sun hardware is. Solaris rocks on their own hardware an is extremely stable.

$ uptime
 12:34pm  up 1221 day(s), 20:44,  1 user,  load average: 0.00, 0.02, 0.02
$

Granted, the above is an internal webserver without a hell of a lot of load on it, but 1221 days is good in anyone's book.

I can understand making Solaris available on Intel hardware, as it allows folks who work with Sun hardware to have an inexpensive way to have Solaris available on a workstation without the expense of a full-blown Sun Server.

Why would anyone run Linux on production Sun hardware?

[neb52]

How much does a entry level Sun box run?

I'm assuming they are trying to offer the hardware to a broader market then what they are able to obtain with running their OS on. On any forums concerning Unix/Linux I rarely see Sun's name mention. Usually its AIX or one of the BSD variants. If I was Sun I would see that as a big marketing flop. Plus Solaris 10 requires a lot more in resources then any of the Linux variants.

I see this as the same as IBM embracing Linux a few years back. It insures that IBM hardware continues to get used in the entry and mid level server market, which helps keep the manufacturing cost of the PowerPC chip down. Otherwise they would have be relegated to being just a high end server manufacturer.

[Golden Eagle]

Why would anyone run Linux on production Sun hardware?

Some people hate anything other than Linux. They are quite fanatical about it, and are typically referred to as "zealots". They put Sun down at every opportunity, ignore all of Sun's contributions to open source as hypocritical, even accuse them of attacking Linux along with SCO and Microsoft. Surely you've seen them, impossible to miss these days.