In a meeting with reporters Friday afternoon, McNealy and Ballmer said the pact was a big win for partners.
"There will probably be a lot more channel partners doing both Microsoft and Sun because of this," said McNealy.
"It's the channel partners who want us to be able to take complexity out of solutions so they can focus more on value-added solutions," said Ballmer.
One solution provider said Sun is making a big mistake, and that no pact will slow the spread of Linux.
"The deal is an unholy alliance that spells the end of Sun Microsystems as we know it. This move makes Sun the Apple Computer of the Unix world. Apparently, McNealy thinks the enemy of his enemy--Linux--is his friend. They couldn't possibly be more wrong," said Ron Herardian, CEO of Global System Services, Mountain View, Calif. "It's just an unbelievable disaster for the industry. This won't stop Linux; it just puts Sun on the losing side of the battle line."
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