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Date: Sun, 19 Oct 2003 19:15:36 -0700
From: Curtis Sasaki <Curtis.Sasaki@Sun.COM>
Subject: Re: desktop
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To: John D Groenveld <jdg117@elvis.arl.psu.edu>
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thanks for the background John, clear and concise. I like it. Some of
the ideas you propose make a lot of sense. I haven't had any direct
involvement in the Solaris "councils" so maybe it would be good to
listen in once and awhile.
On Sunday, October 19, 2003, at 04:31 PM, John D Groenveld wrote:
> In message <89BDB3CC-0265-11D8-A79C-0003939BCBDE@sun.com>, Curtis
> Sasaki writes
> :
>> we are doing the best we can under the tight budget constraints. i
>
> I'm a stockholder, before customer and entirely sympathetic that Sun
> needs to keep within budget constraints. I can appreciate that putting
> Solaris x86 back on the StarOffice release train is not a zero cost
> proposition.
thanks for being a stockholder, I am too and I like you want to see
value in our shares... Glad you are rational about understanding that
it is not zero cost. Sometimes a few folks within Sun think it is....
>
>> know everyone wants more faster, and we sometimes expect heroics out
>> of
>> our engineers. we are planning StarOffice 7 for Solaris x86. Just
>
> Sun's engineers are amazing, thats why I remain bullish on SUNW.
> I'm glad to read that you're planning SO7 for Sx86.
We can only do our best and work as hard as we can.
>
>> keep in mind that that is a retail product and has some different
>> features. sun built the openoffice.org version for now so folks like
>> you can use the latest version. productization into a retail version
>
> I appreciate your efforts on behalf of Phil Brown and other Solaris x86
> community members to get the OpenOffice version online and more
> prominently
> displayed on the openoffice.org's website.
Yes, we will do this.
>
> I also appreciate that the process of performing OpenOffice builds is
> key to the productization of StarOffice.
Yes, you got it. It is a very important step.
>
>> will take longer and as soon as the product team gives a date, you
>> will
>> know.
>
> Assuming that it will take the StarOffice product manager some time
> to provide you with an estimated ship date, would in the meantime you
> ask
> him or her to add a general statement to the product web pages that a
> future update StarOffice 7 will include Solaris x86 support and that
> a projected ship date will be forthcoming?
Yes, this will happen as well.
>
>> my team has a lot of deliverables on the plate and are working as hard
>> as possible. we haven't gotten any added resources to work on more
>> releases or products, so please be mindful when criticizing us. we
>> are
>> doing our best and frankly I'd rather get the rest of Sun also to help
>> us more.
>
> Again, I appreciate that your group has limited resources. However, you
> should understand that while at one time customers would feel confident
> that Sun would never end support for a product without providing
> advance notice, the Solaris x86 example of last year has caused us to
> reasonably fear that Sun's non-response to our feedback up to now
> meant that Sun had decided to abandon us yet again.
>
> Its unfortunate that up to now Sun has failed to communicate to its
> customers that the delayed StarOffice 6 updates for Solaris x86 last
> year,
> missing Solaris x86 betas this spring, and finally the non-existent
> binary
> in the released StarOffice 7 media kit this Wednesday was not the
> result
> of our requests via established channels being lost or ignored between
> departments ... or worse because of some internal political squabble
> about the value of Solaris x86 or whether Solaris x86 is a valid
> desktop
> solution, but because of difficult budget decisions.
I agree. I've requested a few additional resources for awhile now and
it's been challenging. So I hoped we could have had an answer for you
much earlier, but our fault.
>
> Had you replied to my letter to you of May 23rd, I would have passed
> that message on to the rest of the community and I think you could have
> eased those concerns.
My apologies. So much going on, too much to do, and was hoping to have
the resources to firmly commit., but it didn't happen right away and I
got buried. again, my apologies.
>
> I hope Mr Schwartz and Mr McNealy will provide you with the additional
> resources you need to get Solaris x86 back on the StarOffice release
> train, as well as to allow you to provide Solaris x86 support for
> the other Java Desktop System components.
We all have to make tough choices these days.
>
> Perhaps echoing Sun's own existing survey data reflecting customer
> demand
> for more Solaris desktop systems, I suppose its time that the community
> send a letter to Mr Schwartz asking that JDS for Solaris x86 be placed
> on the fast track.
>
> Can you confirm with Mr Schwartz that such a letter will be read and
> acknowledged?
Jonathan reads everything. He cares deeply, so I promise you he would
read comments from you.
>
>> thanks for your comments. I do take them seriously. let's try to
>> stay
>> in dialog. we are moving to have a common release cycle with the
>> Solaris teams which will ease the release cycles for all of us.
>
> I appreciate your commitment to maintain a dialog.
please keep it going, you have my commitment.
>
> I also can't recommend enough that you or a subordinate interface with
> the
> Secret Six, Solaris monthly conference call invitees, Solaris customer
> council or whatever name Sun has for our Solaris customer
> representatives.
> I think they're a very reasonable group of customers and are respected
> by their peers.
I'll have to find out how to get involved with this. I haven't to
date. Alban Richard is the product manager so I get a lot of feedback
through him.
>
> For instance, one idea bounced around the Solaris x86 mailing list
> and recently brought up again by a community representative is to
> place evaluation copies of Solaris x86 in StarOffice media kits.
Good idea, but adding any additional cost to the BOM in the retail box
is tough. To keep the price low, we need to watch every penny, as
support cost $ and the channel co-marketing $ cost $$. I can't lose
money per copy or I'll be tossed out of the company pretty quick. For
the Sun Developer bundles, we could do something like this though.
>
> That may not be feasible in ways that the customer community can't see,
> but it is clear to me that more cooperation and collaboration is
> needed between the different Software units.
It's a lot better than it was, believe me. Just getting Orion (JES)
coordinated took a lot of effort. Next step is getting to a single
release cycle for all releases and builds.
>
> Would Mr Schwartz be the appropriate person to send those suggestions
> or is it your understanding that managers in the Solaris unit tasked
> to interface with the customer community can pass that feedback up
> to yourself and the other members of Mr Schwartz's VP team?
You can certainly write to Jonathan, but please don't stop emailing me.
I appreciate the suggestions (good or bad) and feedback (positive or
negative). I can only do my best.
I really appreciate your time.
best
curtis
>
> Thank you,
> John
> groenveld@acm.org
>
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