Over the past few weeks I had the opportunity to visit a number of UNIX customers.  In my discussions with them they brought up differing needs.  There is a set of customers that are looking to stabilize their environment.  This type of customer does not want to have to go thru a transition, having to recompile applications, or even retraining.  As the old adage goes “don’t fix what isn’t broken.”

Other customers are looking for new innovations in their operating environment.  Whether it is supporting new technologies, added security or even making easier to use there are new features that they want or need. 

This creates a major balancing effort for UNIX vendors between stabilization and innovation.  Which side of the scale that a customer is focused on often depends where they are in the application life cycle.  If I’m just bringing up a new application, a new version of the operating system or even a new operating environment, I’m most likely to want more innovation/new functionality in my operating environment.  As time progresses and my application environment and/or operating environment has been running for a while and I don’t want to change.  We have all heard the stories of customers that have had their environment up and running for years.

So for a UNIX vendor this creates a paradox.  How do I create an environment that is stable while continuing to innovate?   Over the next couple of posts I will give you my thoughts on both sides of the scale.  I will first discuss how I believe we can provide customers with a stable environment and what is required to do this.  Then we will talk about how you can continue to innovate on a stable environment and what types of innovations are still needed for the UNIX environment.

I encourage you to post your thoughts.  Which side of the scale do you fit on?  What are the important areas you are looking for from a UNIX environment.