[6120] in Release_7.7_team
Re: [Linux-ponder] Draft1: Athena Desktop Solaris Sunset Announcement.
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Alex T Prengel)
Mon Dec 15 15:00:38 2008
Message-Id: <200812151959.mBFJxrX8021941@dit.mit.edu>
To: Bill Cattey <wdc@MIT.EDU>
cc: release-team@MIT.EDU, linux-ponder@MIT.EDU, alexp@MIT.EDU
In-Reply-To: Your message of "Fri, 12 Dec 2008 14:03:49 EST."
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Date: Mon, 15 Dec 2008 14:59:53 -0500
From: Alex T Prengel <alexp@MIT.EDU>
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> I have crafted an Athena Desktop Solaris Sunset announcement
> 1. Who is the right group to move this outreach forward?
Well, as you alluded to, the people on owls? I also think Athena Consulting
needs to be involved, as they'll be manning the front lines...
> 2. What is the contact point for people to get extra help?
Well, extra help for what? I'll volunteer to help direct people to
Linux alternatives to Sun-only software. Consulting? They'll likely
bear the brunt of this. I don't know what to say about people
running specific, critical legacy systems that only run on Suns; I
have no idea if there are any. We need to be pretty careful about what
we can commit to (as you allude near the end).
> 3. What revisions does the draft announcement need?
> * The imperative to reduce Institute costs, is driving a complete
> discontinuance of Athena Desktop Solaris support sooner rather than
> later.
I'd put this a bit differently- as far as I know the economy tanking and Suns
leaving Athena are coincidental events, however we can make the point that
the former makes the latter even more imperative. How about:
* The recent, dramatic shifts in the economy make it more important
than ever to quickly reduce costs and streamline services provided to
the Athena community. Moving to a one-platform Linux environment will
go a long way towards achieving these essential goals.
> * Nearly all software available under Solaris is available on other
> platforms, often at lower cost and with higher performance.
Elaborate a bit?:
* The range of software options on Linux now vastly exceeds that
available on either SPARC or x86 Solaris, often at lower cost and with
higher performance. Almost all Open Source and commercial
applications are now offered initially on the Linux platform, and only
later if at all on other UNIX platforms. We are starting to see vendors
discontinuing Solaris support, and this trend is likely to continue.
> * To support current Sun Solaris SPARC desktop offerings would require
> qualifying a new OS release and a re-engineering how Athena is installed
> on Suns.
> * Offering support of a second platform beyond x86 Desktop Athena Linux
> has costs that can be saved if the platform is fully de-commissioned.
Combine these like:
* The efficiencies achieved in rearchitecting the Athena environment
on the Linux platform cannot be extended to Solaris machines without
substantial additional expense and effort.
*******************
additional thoughts:
We really ought to say something about when Sun dialups are going to be
replaced by Linux ones. I suppose we need to figure this out first :-)
We need to do some kind of broadcast. A motd on login somehow seems
the only thing likely to reach a large proportion of users; something
like:
ALERT: Suns will be leaving Athena in Summer 2009. For more
information see http://..
Maybe we could turn this on for 2-3 days soon, then repeat monthly for about
the same duration?
Alex
