Posted on 09/04/2007 11:17:58 PM PDT by dayglored
Sun seeks to apply the lessons of Linux and turn open source Solaris into an operating system to rival Linux and to be as commonly used as Java.
Sun Microsystems has ambitious plans for the commercial and open-source versions of its Solaris operating system, hoping to achieve for Solaris the kind of ubiquity already enjoyed by Java.
To come close to reaching that goal, Sun needs to reach out more to developers and endeavour to overcome some long-held prejudices against the OS.
Sun's Java programming language, which debuted in 1995, is present in most of today's PCs, mobile devices and embedded systems. The vendor is now seeking that same kind of omnipresence for Solaris, its flavour of Unix.
Sun intends to take the operating system into markets where it hasn't traditionally been a force, such as desktop and embedded systems, according to Marc Hamilton, vice president of Solaris marketing at Sun. The vendor is also keen to position OpenSolaris as a real alternative to Linux.
"There's an enormous momentum building behind Solaris," said Ian Murdock, chief operating platforms officer at Sun. He joined Sun in March after serving as the chief technology officer of the Linux Foundation. Murdock is also the creator of the Debian Linux distribution and is keen to take the lessons he's learned in the Linux community and apply them to Solaris.
Sun is preparing to release OpenSolaris binaries early next year in a distribution code-named "Project Indiana" that will be similar to Linux distributions. The work, which is getting under way in the OpenSolaris community, is aimed at creating a single CD installation of the basic OS and desktop environment, giving developers the option to install additional software from network repositories.
(Excerpt) Read more at computerworlduk.com ...
Tech Ping?
It’s a good plan, if they’ll stay with it long enough for enough developers and the market to see the benefits.
Sun has always made good products, IMO. I used their SparcStations over 15 years ago and enjoyed them, even though the "feel" of the machines was not my personal style (I can explain best by saying that I think in sh/ksh, rather than csh, semantics). The UI in Solaris is not my favorite, but I'd like to see them succeed at this move, because it's not just about style... real Unix is a solid product. I operate a network of NetBSD boxes (and many others), and I like the BSD under MacOSX as a workstation platform. So I wish Sun well in this attempt to get more coverage for Solaris through the open source path.
As you say, they have to plan to stick with it long enough that people venture over into the area and see the benefits.
I’ve used several operating systems and don’t know of a more solid kernel than that of NetBSD. I avoid Linux these days because of the GPL/LGPL thing. FreeBSD is stable enough without many kernel config items or user ports installed (as a standalone router, for example). We’ll use a local-only (cut off from the Internet) Windows server for testing some software. ...will give the new Solaris a try soon.
...been learning to write C++ over the last couple of years and might be able to contribute something to pkgsrc soon.
I’m playing with the Eclipse IDE with the CDT (for C++) here. It’s nice, although NetBSD needs some agreement with the Java folks for more direct jdk and jre downloads. And I’m still not all that fond of large Java packages.
Blair and others have come a long way with work on the drm and DRI for NetBSD (direct rendered entertainment not so important but 3D business and education packages will be in the near future, IMO).
I expect development to get really exciting with some of the CPU research (speed) going on with IBM and others. Where will development go with machines hundreds of times faster, language-wise? ...more toward existing interpreted languages (Python, Ruby,...?), new C++ libraries for more high-level usage,...? If you also do development, what are your thoughts on that?
I think the key here is that they need to stick with it. IMO, Sun has a bad habit of changing it's mind too frequently for its own good. If they'd done this back the first time they released Solaris/X86, they might be making serious traction by now, as Solaris is a fairly solid OS. Problem is, they didn't.
That will be the trick, I takes awhile for something the size of the Linux community to develop. SunOS is a great os and the CDDL license is ok.
The more OSS players the merrier..
“It’s pretty much the same thing as linux, isn’t it,” he asked, knowing full well it was.
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