Windows May Come to Sun Servers

Once thought unthinkable, Sun may eventually offer Microsoft's operating systems on its servers if customers ask for it. This is according to comments made last week by operating platform vice president Tom Goguen.

Currently, the company has no such deal with Microsoft; however, the two companies have taken great strides to work out their differences.

"It depends on what our customers tell us to do," Goguen says. If enough customers want the operating system preinstalled on Sun servers, the company would persue a licensing deal with the company. Microsoft officials would not comment on such a deal.

Sun previously said that customers were free to install Windows on their servers on their own as support for running the OS on its hardware was available from company partners.

Some analysts believe that Sun may strike a licensing deal by the end of this year in order to prepare for the newest version of Windows, code-named Longhorn. Such a move would make sense, allowing the company to iron out any bugs on its own, making running Windows on a Sun product easier for its customers.

Such a move may be confusing to Sun's customers, however. "It might cause some customers to start scratching their heads about Sun's commitment to Solaris in particular," Michael Goulde, an analyst with Forrester Research told PC World.