What does DOE have to do with SDI?

They're both unrealizable, politically motivated, out of control, ill conceived, bad ideas. Let's see Sun deliver a network file system that works before they embark on a project that makes every workstation and server dependant on the perfect operation of every other workstation and server (Object server not responding, still trying...). I know what it's like working at Sun, not being able to get any work done because of one stupid NFS server going down, and locking up everything that depends on it, and walking over to Sparcy's to get a sandwich, and finding most of the other engineers there getting sandwiches too, because all of their workstations are locked up.

How are vendors supposed to test their software in the utopian totally open ended flexable DOE environment, where you have no way of predicting what kind of interdependancies, incompatibility nightmares, latencies and deadlocks your customers are going to experience in their environment. Oh, just fly a expert consultant out to install and customize each and every "object" in the customer's environment by hand. SDI and DOE are both unabashed attempts to solve the unemployment problems of overpayed engineers.

And of course, the only way to test the feasibility of DOE is to implement it, get everyone to buy into it and rewrite all their software, deliver and install it, and then (at least in the case of SDI) have a full scale nuclear war. And with Sun's track record, do you really think people are going to buy into it?? They aren't. People are totally disgusted with Solaris, and all SunSoft can think of doing is building on top of all the previous lame attempts at interoperability and distributed computing like Tooltalk and ICCCM. ICCCM has to exist because the X protocol is broken. Tooltalk has to exist because ICCCM is broken. DOE has to exist because tooltalk is broken. So what's next??? Are we at least going to get a file dialog out of all these bloated promises, that doesn't require you to type a directory and a path name into two text fields? Does SunSoft actually expect people with 486's to flock to Solaris, just to keep them from hemorrhaging SMI to death, out of the kindness of their hearts? SunSoft is in the business of selling an operating system that nobody wants, with slogans like "At Sun, objects are closer than they appear." Pure brilliant unadulterated arrogance just doesn't sell vaporware any more!!!

-Don