Sun's Solaris - reloaded


p2pnet.net News:- In the will it or won't it Sun Microsystems Solaris controversy, the New York Times says it will - that's to say, Sun will "turn its proprietary operating system, Solaris, into open-source software".

But if it's true, has the decision come in time to save the day for Sun as Linux steadily gains ground as the OS?

The controversy arose when, at Sun's quarterly network computing conference in Shanghai, new coo Jonathan Schwartz said Sun would do the unthinkable - "release source code from its Solaris operating system through an open-source license, the same free distribution strategy promoted by the developers of Linux," as the NYT states it
here.

And "Make no mistake, we will open-source Solaris," COMPUTERWORLD quotes Schwartz as saying
here.

But, "Sun's CEO Scott McNealy has squashed hopes that its Java programming language could be made open source, and cast a shadow over Sun COO Jonathan Schwartz's statement yesterday that the Solaris operating system was to go the same way," PC Pro states
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/news_story.php?id=58628]here.[/url]

"At a news conference during the public sector technology showcase FOSE 2004, McNealy said he couldn't understand how open sourcing Java would solve anything."

The NYT's Laurie J. Flynn, however, has no doubt about where things stand. Sun, "declined to provide details on how the move would affect the company's overall business model, or whether the company would provide all or only parts of the source code through an open-source license," she writes. "Sun has always held tight control over Solaris, its proprietary network operating system for server computers.

And she quotes Eric A. Raymond, president of the Open Source Initiative, as saying Sun's proprietary approach, "landed it in this hole. Solaris's high price and closed-source nature directly led to the development of Linux."

"Over the last few years, Sun has lost a considerable amount of market share in the server market to computers running Linux and Windows, which are often less expensive than the kind of specialized hardware and software sold by Sun," says Flynn.

"The impact of Sun's decision, the apparent result of many months of spirited debate inside the company, will depend on just how far Sun decides to take the new approach, say analysts."

CONT'D....