Sun + Ubuntu = Good?

Sun Microsystems is soon going to start offering servers with Ubuntu Server installed on them. With all that Sun Microsystems has to offer, is this move worth it all?

Since Sun Microsystems now owns mySQL (if you remember, they purchased mySQL for $1 billion a little while ago), they gained some great credibility with the open source market. The mySQL RDBMS holds a decent market share when it comes to dynamically driven content on the web, and it also shares an OK market share in the database war in general.

This match of Sun Microsystems and Ubuntu Server seems to be a great match (some might say, a match made in heaven). Sun Microsystems makes excellent excellent hardware. The Sun Microsystems hardware has definitely proven itself in the field. Ubuntu has a huge community following (heck, even I used it :P ), and now with the future release of Ubuntu (in late April, code name: Hardy Heron) which has the LTS (long term support) for both the desktop and the server platform, this will look really nice on top of the Sun Microsystems hardware.

Right now, this seems like a good move for Sun Microsystems, as Solaris doesn't really have a following worth mentioning (don't get me wrong, Solaris is a great, robust operating systems), while Ubuntu, on the other hand, has virtually taken the Linux world by storm. It has a great community behind it, and great support. It has a steady six month release cycle, with LTS on ever fourth release (roughly, it often varies) or so.

Sun Microsystems has also offered to sponsor Ubuntu Live, a conference for Ubuntu users which will be held some time this summer. It seems as though Sun Microsystems is really getting into the open source business, none of this 'testing the waters, wading in the shallow end with the bright orange floaties on their arms', they jumped into an Olympic long distance swim marathon dragging steaks in shark infested waters. I do wish them the best of luck with this endeavor and I also wish I could afford some of that lovey Sun Microsystems hardware.