Isn't it ironic? Sun bails on NW's NOS debate

Sun CEO Scott McNealy doesn't miss an opportunity to tweak arch rival Bill Gates and Microsoft. In fact, Sun is the poster child for feistiness, the company that loves to badmouth the Redmondites and champion the cause of anti-Windows computing.

Yet Sun is the only network operating system (NOS) company that has declined my challenge for a debate in January at the ComNet conference in Washington, D.C. Microsoft, Novell, Red Hat and The Santa Cruz Operation (SCO) have all agreed to send a representative to debate the merits of their NOS products and strategies, but Sun won't show. The most vocal of all the NOS companies - probably the most vocal company in the whole industry - thus becomes the first company to back out of a Network World Showdown in nearly a dozen such presidential-style debates at major conferences. Go figure. Despite repeated requests to take part in the Network World NOS Showdown and our complementary NOS testing at ComNet, Sun would only say that it chooses not to participate at this time. But the time is now, and the other companies have stepped up to the plate. Microsoft is sending Group Product Manager Aubrey Edwards, while Novell is sending Craig Miller, vice president, platform services. From Red Hat, we'll have Erik Troan, director of engineering, and from SCO we'll get Tamar Newberger, director of product marketing for server products. Troan and Newberger are Showdown veterans, and I applaud their willingness to take part once again. Sun's absence is IBM's gain. With McNealy's group out of the picture, I invited IBM to join in the debate and the company signed on, offering up Tom Keefe, director of Unix market development. The NOS Showdown will be held at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 26 (for more information, go to www.comnetexpo.com). Our vendor panelists will field questions from each other, a panel of experts and the audience. For now, drop me a line with any questions you'd like to ask the vendors. You should also get in touch with Sun to find out why it's a no-show for an important debate aimed at helping you choose the best operating platform for your networked applications. Why has this outspoken company gone silent?

- John Gallant

jgallant@nww.com