artm@phred.UUCP (04/06/87)
I was recently informed that cash-rich Apple Computer
is seeking to buy out Sun (even as the latter is trying
to buy up most of the city of Milpitas).
Anyone care to confirm or deny this, and if it's true what is
the likelihood of (1.) them succeeding and (2.) some sort of
consolidation of product lines if it happens.
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Art Marriott
Physio-Control
tikal!phred!artm
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
Workstations? You mean we're supposed to **work** at these things?ekwok@mipos3.UUCP (04/07/87)
In article <1345@phred.UUCP> artm@phred.UUCP writes: >I was recently informed that cash-rich Apple Computer >is seeking to buy out Sun (even as the latter is trying >to buy up most of the city of Milpitas). > >Anyone care to confirm or deny this, and if it's true what is >the likelihood of (1.) them succeeding and (2.) some sort of >consolidation of product lines if it happens. I have no way to know about the truth of the rumor. However, I do have some thoughts about the benefits of such a get-together. It would allow Apple to get into the high performance market. If they pool their talents together, they may be able to offer a line of Motorola-based machines from home to big Vax capabilities. But I'm not sure the founders' at sun are interested to see the sun in the home market!! I understand they still control substantial amount of stock. Some of them may not see the future of supercomputing in the home, as some of us see it so clearly. Although everything has a price. The worst that can happen is that the gurus' at sun cash out and retire to be gentleman farmers of Woodside and Beverly Hills. -- Eh, your honor sir, the prosecution pleads guilty.
ins_adhw@jhunix.UUCP (04/07/87)
In article <1345@phred.UUCP> artm@phred.UUCP (Art "Faster! Faster!" Marriott) writes: >I was recently informed that cash-rich Apple Computer >is seeking to buy out Sun (even as the latter is trying >to buy up most of the city of Milpitas). > Art Marriott I've been hearing these rumors for the past 3 or so years. It seems that Apple keeps getting more cash, offering to buy Sun, being refused, and trying again. The most interesting part of the rumor (I think this may have been from the Wall Street Journal) is that Apple is not interested in Sun's products, but in their people. Apple 4 years ago had to lay off quite a few engineers and such, in order to get back into reasonable financial condition, and now they need many more people with extensive experience in 68020-based UNIX graphic workstations (i.e. Mac II). Sun fits that bill pretty well. -- ---------Daniel Wachsstock Dept. of Biophysics, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218 UUCP: seismo!umcp-cs!jhunix!ins_adhw BITNET: ins_adhw@jhunix.bitnet
nelson@ohlone.UUCP (Bron Nelson) (04/09/87)
In article <4655@jhunix.UUCP>, ins_adhw@jhunix.UUCP (Daniel Wachsstock) writes: > In article <1345@phred.UUCP> artm@phred.UUCP (Art "Faster! Faster!" Marriott) writes: > >I was recently informed that cash-rich Apple Computer > >is seeking to buy out Sun > > I've been hearing these rumors for the past 3 or so years. It seems that > Apple keeps getting more cash, offering to buy Sun, being refused, and > trying again. The most interesting part of the rumor (I think this may > have been from the Wall Street Journal) is that Apple is not interested > in Sun's products, but in their people. The folks at Apple have been known to use the phrase 'Sun killer' when refering to the MacII. I don't believe Sun really has to worry yet, but it certainly seems that Apple is trying to muscle in on the market, rather than buy out an existing company. I tend to agree that the folks at Sun are probably not too interested in selling out (on the other hand, now that Sun is a public corporation, Apple could probably tender an offer that the board couldn't refuse). I think they'll slug it out in the market for awhile yet. ----------------------- Bron Nelson {ihnp4, lll-lcc}!ohlone!nelson Not the opinions of Cray Research
fair@ucbarpa.Berkeley.EDU (Erik E. Fair) (04/13/87)
In the referenced article, Bron Nelson <nelson@ohlone.UUCP> writes:
The folks at Apple have been known to use the phrase 'Sun
killer' when refering to the MacII. I don't believe Sun really
has to worry yet, but it certainly seems that Apple is trying
to muscle in on the market, rather than buy out an existing
company. I tend to agree that the folks at Sun are probably
not too interested in selling out (on the other hand, now that
Sun is a public corporation, Apple could probably tender an
offer that the board couldn't refuse). I think they'll slug it
out in the market for awhile yet.
According to the Wall Street Journal of a week ago, Sun Microsystems
dropped its prices on the SUN-3/50M from $7,900 to $4,995. The
president of Sun was quoted as saying "we're geared up to produce
these things like cookies."
What was that about a "Sun killer"?
Erik E. Fair ucbvax!fair fair@ucbarpa.berkeley.edu