Comments on: Sun hopes for Linux-like Solaris

Through Project Indiana, Sun wants to give Solaris a Linux feel to try to woo an influential developer crowd.

[hetzbh]

Good luck with that

I still remember the days where Sun engineers where laughing at XFree86, compared to their "superior" X server and their CDE (back when Linux had fvwm).
Few days ago I had to install Solaris 10 on X4100 machine. Boy, that was a nightmare. Someone at Sun should really take either SuSE or RedHat based distribution and compare their installation, comfiguration and first time usages compared to Solaris, which make Solaris looks really arcane! where's the standards in packaging? packaging paths? some default customizations? easy tools for configurations? some more sane ways to config network on 2+ network cards?

Sun engineers: get yourself a Linux distribution and see whats you're missing for the last 10 years! here's a hint: sticking X.org and GNOME doesn't cut it!

[Fil0403]

My opinion

Same as yours, just switch:

- "Solaris" for "Linux";

- "Linux" for "Windows".

There you have it. :)

[Orion Blastar]

If Sun wants a Linux like OS that bad

why not just license a distro of Linux and start adding in Solaris features to it? Call it Solarix or something. Pick Unbuntu or Fedora, they are two popular distros.

Keep Solaris for those SPARCStations and other systems that Sun sells, and offer Solarix to the PC and Mac users who want a Linux-like OS.

Oh by the way, remember that OpenDesktop that Sun/HP/Next worked on with OpenStep, why don't Sun make a deal with Apple to license Aqua and other Desktop aspects of OSX, like it did with Next before Apple bought out Next?

[ironbyghte]

Why mess with Solaris anymore?

I used Solaris x86 around 10 years ago in a production system - not because I really wanted too, but because it was the only SVR4 operating system who's DigiBoard drivers wouldn't crash it. My experience was with System V at the time and Linux really wasn't quite up to the task yet. Frankly, I didn't mind it at the time and was quite happy with it.

Ironically it was just this weekend that I thought I'd install it and give it a whirl. So I downloaded the latest x86 DVD and installed it in VMWare.

Now, I'm not a GUI person when it comes to my Unix-like operating systems. But - OH MY GOD - talk about bringing back old memories. What is this... old-school Motif? Give me a break.

My impression is, why mess with this? There's simply no reason anymore to run Solaris when you have better alternatives such as Linux or even Windows.

Unless you have an application that requires Solaris for whatever reason, you're better off with something else.

[JuggerNaut]

There's always a reason for Solaris!

Being a Solaris native of old myself, I really wouldn't throw
Windows in the same league as Solaris; definitely two different
operating systems tackling two different market segments and
exactly why you'll find Windows in one place and Solaris in
another place. Solaris has always had a great reputation for a
solid workhorse of a Unix environment; basically taking the best
of BSD and System V and building what could be considered the
best of the best in the Unix world. Linux is definitely making
great headway, but still has a ways to go before stacking up to
the more mature code base of Solaris.

As far as Motif and CDE in general; a great desktop environment
that stagnated. It certainly made desktops like Mac and
Windows look like toys when put side by side back in the day,
too bad it's hey day is over :-(

[yacahuma]

Have they heard, if you cant beat them, join them?

If they are going to waste there time, why dont they try to make a new linux version,with whatever they one from solaris on it? Maybe they create a more solid, secure, etc version that people will actually use.

[Stating]

Sun Is Awefully Late To The Table

Just what the world needs, another Linux distro. What compelling reason does Sun have to enter an already crowded market? So they're going to make revenue from a free OS? Great strategy. It seems to me that Sun has just run out of new ideas. What's next, a makeover for CPM?

[zahadum]

os/x not linux already has the Solaris goodies! (ZFS + Dtrace)

yes, solaris is cool & opensolaris is a good thing -

but it is os/x not linux that delivers these tasty morsels - like
zfs & dtrace - into developers hands (first, and not by using
workarounds).

it is especuially ironic (and wishful thinking) on the part of sun's
management to think linux will deliver developer mindshare to
them -- when all the cool cats at sun are already using mac
laptops! ;-) let alone all the groovey folks in ruby land etc etc.

yes, driver support for linux is getting better but it is nowhere
NEAR as pervasive as mac support - so linux is still not the
optimum platform that gives an oem like sun access to
developer's hearts & minds.

it is useful to observe that - with RARE exception - it is linux
that brorrows ideas from its unix big brothers (solaris, bsd etc).
linux is not a value-added platform ... it is merely the lowest
common denominator.

should other (technically) serious unices (like darwin & solaris)
offer more compatibility with their kid brother, linux - sure!

but sun should take note that it is others - eg ibm & oracle -
that make big money from delivery java solutions, not sun from
its java licenses ... the same is true for unix: apple makes loads
from selling a solution on top of a great infrastructure, not the
nots & bolts itself.

sun is to be commended for being more aggresive with java &
solaris --- but it wont make incremental profit from either
unless they are part of coherent & cohesive platform.

'java everywhere' does not mean alot when web services can
deliver solutions (albeit relatively simple ones) that are as
platform agnostic as java is (supposed to be) much more
lightweight.

solaris (and java) should look at how corba failed to deliver
pervasive success because it did not attatch itself to a 'killer
app'.

ibm, microsoft, apple, oracle (and one day google) all fill out
their software stacks so they can create eco-systems around
their platforms - SUN needs to do the same.

[EmbSysPro]

Right On!

I believe that Sun's Solaris + Java infrastructure is the best platform available for serious business uses.

But Apple's OS X is the best development platform available by far. Mainly because of that stellar UI on a rock solid foundation.

Sun could learn quite a lot from Apple's approach.

[Fil0403]

Eco-systems

Apple definitely doesn't belong in the group of IBM, Microsoft and Oracle. At least Microsoft makes sure as much software and hardware works with Windows and gives people freedom to change change and configure their computers as they wish. Apple is almost the opposite (just look at the iPod / iTunes eco-system).

[RompStar_420]

Solaris vs. OS X

I used Solaris on Sun Sparc Machines and Ultra 1 and Ultra 2 like
in 2000, right before the .dot bubble popped. I still remember
the .dot commercials that Sun used to air, I still remember the
$70 per share stock price, now it's like around $7 or something.

One of the things that I learned when I used to trade on the
stock exchange is that, majority rules, whatever the majority is
thinking, one would be pretty stupid to bet against the numbers.

Unless Sun makes some inroads into the Solaris soon, they will
not be around or be substantially smaller into the future. Their
hardware is great! - and I liked Solaris at the time of using it,
but they just move slow - compared to the rest of the market.

[RompStar_420]

and OS X

as far as I am concerned is the best OS that I have worked with.
I can do so many things all at the same time and my machine
don't freeze or crash, nothing!

For $2000 I bought a 64-bit machine that can take up to 16GIG
of ram and few PCs can claim that in the same rank. I been
using computer since my first one which was a diskless IBM PC
Jr, I loked the keyboard and the memory bricks that you had to
screw on the side of the computer to add RAM. OS X is the best
to date from my experiance of using it all, almost all.

[danxy]

OpenSolaris isn't trying to be Linux-like--it's just using GNU utilities, which pre-date Linux and are also used by *BSD and other UNIX and UNIX-like OSs. Linux didn't invent GNU utilities, but were borrowed to complete the picture.

Solaris has strengths on it's own, such as ZFS filesystem features of commit/rollback, RAID, and live upgrade, and dtrace for debugging/diagnostics/performance tuning.