I have the same issue on my sun boxen.
If I telnet to the machine(s), the .profile is read. (I am a korn shell user)
If I open the terminal from the gui, (ie eXceed/local console) the .profile is not sourced...
I have seen scripts that check to see if the login is via gui, and if so, source the .profile, but haven't been able to locate something decent recently.
If anyone has any ideas please post a reply.
Thanks in advance!