The End Of The Hardware Era?

from the no-more-big-iron dept

It used to be that the big business in the tech industry came from those selling the hardware. Businessweek is pointing out that Sun's vision has now come (mostly) true - and the "network is the computer", meaning that the hardware component has really become a commodity piece in the puzzle. The real money is in what can be done with that hardware, and the software and services to make it happen. Thus, they suggest, the hardware era is ending - and the focus is on providing service and software. This is clearly evident in the moves made over the past few years by IBM, as well as the HP-Compaq merger.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  • identicon
    dorpus, 22 Nov 2002 @ 1:59pm

    Irony?

    Sun is one of few vendors that have monopolized the hardware/software package. Sun OS can theoretically work on PC's, but all the pressure/effort/focus goes into proprietary Sun-Sparc hardware. Fujitsu came out with generic Sparc hardware, but nobody noticed.

    Whatever became of the "netputer", the glorified 90s term for a dumb terminal?

    link to this | view in chronology ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.