Return to BSD News archive
Xref: sserve comp.unix.aix:48726 comp.unix.bsd:15547 comp.unix.pc-clone.32bit:7718 comp.unix.solaris:28197 comp.unix.unixware:15093
Newsgroups: comp.unix.aix,comp.unix.bsd,comp.unix.pc-clone.32bit,comp.unix.solaris,comp.unix.unixware
Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!bunyip.cc.uq.oz.au!munnari.oz.au!uunet!fonorola!infoshare!whome!telly!evan
From: evan@telly.on.ca (Evan Leibovitch)
Subject: Re: Unix for PC
Message-ID: <D0JwL6.qE@telly.on.ca>
Organization: Sound Software Ltd., Brampton, Ontario
References: <3bvmo1$hgr@cascade.pnw.net> <3c4rhh$54a@bantu.provo.novell.com> <D0Gy4D.FL7@telly.on.ca> <3c79u2$ng6@abyss.west.sun.com>
Date: Fri, 9 Dec 1994 16:03:06 GMT
Lines: 92
In article <3c79u2$ng6@abyss.west.sun.com>,
K. M. Sherif <sherif@nike.West.Sun.COM> wrote:
>>SunSoft, shunned VARs and sold direct. This approach worked fine
>>for those who knew what they were doing. But most end-users, the kind
>>who don't even know what a Unix is, let alone that their vertical app
>>is running on it, never heard of Dell Unix. Their exposure to Unix was
>>*exclusively* through the VAR channel, which to date has been the
>>main path for SCO to go. Solaris and Novell alike would love to have
>>SCO's market share in this corner of the world -- study carefully how
>>they got there. Hint: SCO doesn't sell direct.
>There seems to be a misconception here that SunSoft is averse to
>VARs and resellers.
It is not a misconception, it is a fact that I lived through first-hand.
When my company noticed that Esix appeared to be stagnating, and that we
had to pick up a new Intel Unix line, I shopped around. I spent a long
time with people from SCO, Sunsoft, and that upstart Univel.
SCO's VAR network is like a cozy exclusive club, but it isn't that hard
to join. Univel was very unpolished at the time (it had hardly been
formed!), but it was aggressive, and looked like it was going in the
right direction.
Sun, on the other hand, was a shambles. Its programs (such as they were)
for Intel Solaris, Interactive, SunSelect (the part of Sun that produces
PC-NFS) and Sun hardware were totally separate and totally incompatible.
Since I did this enquiry about a year and a half ago, Sunsoft has turned
around 180 degrees and now requires *no* authorization for any software!
This move is also pretty stupid IMO, because:
1) It's now the *only* commercial Unix that a reseller can get without
demonstrating any Unix smarts at all. You thought Novell dealers were
dumb? Sunsoft doesn't even care who they are!
2) Because it doesn't require authorization, Sunsoft has no idea who
its resellers are (based on the above point, they may not want to
know :-). How can a company implement a VAR program based on that?
When I talked to Sun there were *no* training programs for dealers
(since my company got Novell authorized, they have sent us pounds of
documentation, and a number of videos, in addition to the docs in the
UW product itself).
Moreover, Sun was incredibly arrogant. You practically had to pry VAR
information out of them with a pair of pliers, even at trade shows where
the only attendees were resellers (eg, Merisel's Softeach).
After long consultations and hard comparisons, we decided Sun really
didn't want or care about VARs; a fact borne out by Sun's dependence
on a direct channel. Who needs resellers when you're going direct
to the public anyway? Why would Sun give referrals to resellers when
they can keep all the margin for themselves?
I can sum up Sun's VAR approach as a matter of attitude, as much as
any individual program or thing that Sun reps have told me through the
years; Sun's attitude to VARs is totally one of cold indifference.
Conversations I have had with other VARs have only confirmed this
opinion.
>People seem to be forgetting that one of the reasons
>taht SunSoft purchased Interactive's x86 Unix division is the strong VAR
>and reseller network that Interactive had.
Well, if that's the case it was one of the stupidest buyouts I've seen
in this industry for a while. I had believed that Sun bought Interactive
for its Intel-hardware expertise, nothing more.
I can't speak for much of the US experience; but about the time
that Sun bought Interactive, Interactive's only Canadian distributor
at the time was bought by SCO (and is now SCO Canada), leaving Canadian
distribution in a shambles for many months.
Things have improved significantly over the last year, but they're still
pretty poor. The distribution channels Sunsoft now enjoys are largely
from companies that first carried SMCC anyway; Interactive's distribution
network brought Sun very little indeed.
>Most of these resellers and
>VARs are/will be carrying Solaris 2.x also. In addition new VARs are being
>enlisted and many of the SPARC side system integrators also carry
>Solaris x86.
A culture shift which is IMO almost as severe as getting NetWare VARs to
understand Unix :-).
--
Evan Leibovitch, Sound Software Ltd., located in beautiful Brampton, Ontario
Novell Unix Master Reseller / evan@telly.on.ca / (905) 452-0504
Are vegetarians allowed to eat animal crackers?