[osol-mktg] OpenSolaris/Solaris and Hardware Partnerships

[Kaiwai Gardiner]

Thank you for the email,

Although 'buttons' on boxes, something like a rising sun with a smily face,
would be a long term goal, but I think the first thing to establish a list
of 'works with OpenSolaris'; hardware that has been verified to have worked
with OpenSolaris through a wiki/voting like structure where end users and
hardware companies, if they choose, can meet, and address any problems as
they're found.

If companies like OpenSound wish to 'get on board' where by they can 'plug'
their product in as part of, for example "This device is supported via a
third party technology"; advertising for companies through our hardware
support list; and if these companies see benefits by customers being
directed to their product (rather than a competitor) - for example, Nvidia
wining customers from ATI due to ATI"s refusal to support OpenSolaris, in
return, we might see more hardware companies get on board to provide
drivers/specs and established hardware companies more inclined to supporting
the OpenSolaris development effort.

Now once a 'online community' where by future users, hardware companies and
developers can all meet, then one can take it to the next level via a
marketing bliz which includes labelling products that are OpenSolaris
compatible - but that is further down the track.

Nutshell:

Community between hardware and end users -> develop and formalise links
between end users, OpenSolaris 'foundation' and hardware companies -> Formal
promotion of OpenSolaris 'compatible' hardware.

The ETA time line for such a programme would be around 18months to 2 years;
but once established, it should not only help end users but encourage
hardware companies realise that there are more than just 'fortune 500'
customers out there who are running OpenSolaris and want hardware support.

Matt


On 3/19/07, Patrick Finch <Patrick.Finch at sun.com> wrote:
>
> Hi Kaiwai,
>
> I think the biggest challenge you face in an activity like this is that
> people will always be very reluctant to certify to a code base.
> Statements of compatibility will almost always be made against specific
> binary distributions, rather than to source code.
>
> Sara Dornsife has been looking into this in more detail, and has also
> been looking into an "ingredient button" style programme, (such as
> "Intel inside" or the use of Tux to represent Linux), but I don't think
> it is that straightforward, and at the moment, we only have what's
> called "fair use" of the OpenSolaris name (i.e. you can call your
> distribution "based on OpenSolaris").
>
> If you can make any progress on these challenges, it will indeed be most
> valuable.
>
> best regards
>
> Patrick
>
>
>
>
> Kaiwai Gardiner wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > Given my limited programming skills, I thought it would be best to
> > contribute in a way which I could add 'value'.
> >
> > What I propose is a "works with", "OpenSolaris compatible" programme
> > which is part information for customers, and part promotional spot/plug
> > for hardware vendors who either explicitly support our hardware through
> > providing drivers, implicitly by the provision of specifications or work
> > 'out of the box' due to the nature of the device itself - for example,
> > an mp3 player that uses UMS rather than a proprietary database like
> > structure such as an iPod.
> >
> > The benefits will be two fold; firstly, customers who wish to run
> > OpenSolaris will have a list of hardware which they can choose from
> > which is compatible 'out of the box' - ranging from chipsets to mp3
> > players.
> >
> > The benefit to hardware vendors will be that they will have a visible
> > presence in the OpenSolaris 'community' communication board as a form of
> > marketing; making their hardware more desirable over others,and thus
> > push up sales of those companies willing to help/support the OpenSolaris
> > community.
> >
> > I'm in the process of working out a programme, and will most a much more
> > detailed out line of it; but I thought it would be best to give a 'heads
> > up' and whether the 'OpenSolaris' community as a whole are willing to
> > get behind this programme as part of the over all marketing push.
> >
> > Awaiting replies and input,
> >
> > Kaiwai Gardiner
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > opensolaris-mktg mailing list
> > opensolaris-mktg at opensolaris.org
>
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