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Sun Recants Solaris Source Closure
wfaulk writes "Sun Microsystems, which, a few days ago, announced that they would be re-closing their source code, announced today that they would not be doing so. You can now continue to download Solaris source (where they verify the reversal)."
I wonder if this has anything at all to do with the Microsoft ruling? Probably not, I'm probably just being paranoid, but still the timing is quite a coincidence. But hey, it can't hurt to have Sun open up Solaris Sourecode, so I'm definitely not complaining. Viva la open source! (even though it looks like the license they put this under isn't exactly GPL or BSD).
This is like watching a robot scurrying around when its two drivers are fighting over the joystick.
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hi, i'm sun microsystems! we're like, cool and stuff so we're going to release our source code cuz that's what all the cool people are doing. of course, since our company is so bloated, we'll have to charge like, $75 to just cover the red tape costs.
(a few months later)
hey, what's happening? i thought releasing our code would make us cool and stuff. damn, what are we going to do?
hey! i know, let's say we're going to stop releasing our source so all the open source people will get their panties in a bunch! that's right, and then when we have their attention again, we'll open it back up again and we'll be cool and stuff! wow, we're really smart.
Activism does make a difference. For every person who writes, emails, calls to complain when a large company pisses him off, there are whiners in the background saying, "It won't make any difference; why should a huge company like X even listen to you?"
Well, twice in a week two of the biggest companies in the world have listened to thousands of us, and done what we asked them to. We threw a collective shit-fit when Micro$oft revealed their Smart Tag plans, and they backed right away. We had another fit when Sun said they'd close the Solaris source, and they've now reversed themselves.
We haven't won the war, and we never will, because it will never end. But dammit, we can make a difference on issues that matter to us. Next time Company Y does something really obnoxious or stupid, remember one of my favorite Frank Herbert quotes: "The most important survival ability for any life form is the ability to change." Successful companies know this, too, and they do listen.
"We all say so, so it must be true!"
This isn't as much "normalization" as it is "don't take so many drugs when you're designing tables."
Open source/Free software is most certainly what can be qualified as a "Vocal Minority"; alas it has also, certainly one of it's other attribute "fundamentalism". But, maybe the two are closely related. You need to be really focused on your believes and dismess other believes if you want to make a difference, or if you want to change things.
History has told us, quite often, that it' "Vocal minorities" who change history.
First off, I think there was more stupidity than gouging involved (approximately, "we thought we'd satisfied the market"), which indicates that Sun is clearly lacking a clue when it comes to Open Source. This isn't news.
The other thing about the Sun situation that I suspect most people don't consider -- they don't necessarily own all the source code to Solaris. A lot of it is probably still Unix System V (which, last time I checked, was owned by Caldera, another notably less-than-clueful company); there are probably restrictions on just what they can do with the code.
I do think in general that Sun is one of those companies that has no particular interest in keeping the source code closed per se, though. I think they made that perfectly evident by making Solaris and StarOffice (which should be their flagship products if software was really a focus for them) free downloads. Sun's problem here is that they're doing a very sloppy job of adapting to the realities of the modern Unix world in which Open Source is a force that simply can't be ignored or written off (I hesitate to say it dominates, since there's a lot of Motif work and such still being done out there in the trenches).
What Sun has just done unfortunately probably doesn't signify anything in the way of a change of heart; they're merely responding to a miscalculation in their market analysis that would have gotten them unnecessary bad press if they'd followed through with it. (Might wake them up, though, you never know...)
/Brian
My work recently switched to solaris 7, and soon to solaris 8 on our E10Ks. However for some stupid idea they will not buy a new sparccomplier compiler to go with it.
Since solaris went to a 64-bit kernel in solaris 7, I have lost control of debugging kernel-level problems because our old sparc compiler does support the 64-bit kernel. This makes me very upset.
My question is, if I can get my hands on the solaris 8 source code, can I use the symbols and headers in it to cross-compile a gcc to support the 64-bit symbols and functions I need?
Kind of a odd way to do it, but I can afford to get the source code, but not the sparccompiler.
Sun purchased the company that made Star Office (Applixware), probably for several million dollars, and then proceeded to release it under the GPL. I don't know what your definition of "giving back" to the OSS community is, but that certainly fits mine. The open source community instantly gained perhaps the single biggest piece that it was missing for global desktop domination (an extensive office suite).
There are one or two other examples I could think of off the top of my head where Sun has "given back", but the Star Office example should suffice in proving your original source incorrect.
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