Re: [News] While Windows is Toast, OpenSolaris Becomes the Future Rival

[Paul Bramscher <pfbram_nospam@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Roy Schestowitz wrote:
> Sun Aims To Outdo Linux
>
> ,----[ Quote ]
> | Many companies prototype their projects using available LAMP
> | (Linux/AMP) technology and commodity PCs, says Juan Carlos Soto,
> | Sun's VP of marketing. "It's certainly understandable why that
> | would be the start, but we also want to make sure they have a
> | chance to look at what Sun has to offer," Soto says.
> `----
>
> http://www.informationweek.com/industries/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=197006681
>
>
> Related:
>
> Sun to release OpenSolaris under GPL version 3
>
> ,----[ Quote ]
> | Sun is going to add the upcoming GNU General Public License version
> | 3 (GPLv3) to OpenSolaris in addition to its current CDDL (Common
> | Development and Distribution License). 
> `----
>
> http://www.linux-watch.com/news/NS8979755794.html
>
>
> Will GPLv3 energize Free Software, or marginalize the FSF?
>
> ,----[ Quote ]
> | As written, GPLv3 threatens to fork GNU projects and marginalize 
> | the Free Software Foundation, writes Linux observer Bill Weinberg
> | in this well-written essay. Drawing on long experience
> | evangelizing open source licensing to business users, Weinberg
> | suggests that the FSF's GPLv3 high road could be a lonesome one.
> `----
>
> http://www.linuxdevices.com/articles/AT2003051251.html
>
>
> Will Sun Use GPLv3?
>
> ,----[ Quote ]
> | First of all, Sun has been engaged directly in the GPL v3 process
> | since it started. My colleagues and I attended the launch conference
> | in Cambridge, MA at the start of 2006 - I even logged the
> | conversation with my friend and collaborator Danese Cooper of Intel.
> `----
>
> http://blogs.sun.com/webmink/entry/about_gplv3

Sun will need to overcome a few bumps:

* Reasonable (or better) hardware support than linux.
* I've found some issues with out-of-box Solaris 2.10 openssl and/or 
j2se.  Seems to have been crippled down to below than 4096 encryption 
length unless you recompile.  No more crippling.
* Lacks the massive young/developer/worldwide community that linux enjoys.
* They'll need to firm up their naming problems.  If it's Solaris 2.10, 
then call it 2.10, not "10".  Reign in the Java marketing people also. 
Bring all the dk's and j's into a single rubric.
* Realize that developers have needs different from sysadmins.  An 
austere box with vi editor may be fine for editing conf files, but 
presents an outdated environment for developing large-scale GUI/OO 
stuff.  Java stuff like Eclipse is fine and dandy, but slow as hell.
* Move beyond Java.  Namely, something which promotes simplicity of 
architecture, flexibility in adaptation, and raw performance.  Java is 
perhaps a reasonable bureaucratic language, but the Fortune-100's are 
largely outsourced at this point and the new generation is working for 
light-weight small upstart companies -- and have less need/interest for 
time-intensive and over-engineered architectures.