the thing that i don't understand about this if it is, like you say, a
competitive move against linux, is that they're effectively giving
their source code to almost any linux hacker out there. i don't see
any reference to an NDA, so what's to stop linux people from taking
what the choose out of solaris and dropping it into linux? this seems
to be a far more probable outcome then solaris competing with linux
directly...
one possibility is that sunsoft is looking to close-up shop on
solaris, move towards their java operating system, and they'll be glad
to have a free unix (linux w/solaris enhancements) available for their
sparcs for people who still want to run unix in a couple of years.
i've been thinking for a long time that linux (= free unix world) will
definitely outlast any of the commercial unices. this annoucement
seems to be a step in that direction.
otoh, what worries me about it, however, is i think this makes solaris
look like a joke to the microsoft people. NT source code is highly
protected, and it is an easy assumption that there is a direct
relationship between protection of code and value of said code (albeit
largely wrong).
--steve farrell
> For all of you that haven't found it, my web page is
>
> http://reality.sgi.com/lm
>
> Unless my mailer is screwing up it is also in my .signature.
>
> Furthermore, I've received confirmation on the Solaris source deal
> from
>
> . A Sun (SMCC) VP (Okin)
> . A Sun sales rep (Henningsen)
> . A former Sun manager (Kessler)
> . http://www.sun.com/edu/hot/hot.html
>
> That's too many people for it to be a hoax.
>
> On top of that, it makes perfect sense for Sun to do this. The primary
> motivation is the research community which has been migrating to Linux
> in droves. The deal is that researchers can easily collaborate using the
> Linux source base but it is much more difficult with Solaris. This has
> been a problem for Sun for years but there has never been an alternative.
> Now that Linux is widely available and PCs are as fast as Suns, what's
> the advantage of a Sun?
>
> If you were Sun, what would you do?