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Sun Works to Converge Linux and Solaris
Jucius Maximus writes "A new change has appeared in Sun's strategy as reported by CNET. Instead of dismissing Linux as inferior, it is now trying to integrate elements of Linux into Solaris for easier porting of applications. This looks like a step in the right direction for Linux acceptance in the professional server market."
I'm sure Sun's lawyers have been over this with a fine tooth comb, but if they integrate GPL code fron Linux into their OS, doesn't that mean they have to release the source for their whole kernel? Or is it just libraries?
You can always tell a company is on it's way down when it announces a major push to embrace Linux. Usually it means its products are not selling and it has to do something *anything* to keep afloat. This is not a good sign for Sun.
Hu?
Why should I phase out old sun hardware for cheap intel based hard ware? Linux runns pretty well on SPARCs.
(Not to mention that most SPARCs I work on run SUN OS 4.3 and not Solaris)
angel'o'sphere
Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
So they did the logical step. Looked in what is Linux better and try to incorporate these things in Solaris. I say, way to go. But its not to increase Linux's acceptance, really :)
If programs would be read like poetry, most programmers would be Vogons.
This is like saying that MacOSX has opened doors for *BSD in the graphics art niche. Technically, it has but most of the people using it don't care and see it as 'Mac'. Same thing here. 90% of their customers will just upgrade to the new rev of Solaris and the fact that it has something to do with Linux will be almost completely ignored. No more than 1 bullet in the sales pamphlet.
For instance, if you have installed OpenSSH on Solaris, you will have been forced to look into the various methods for getting /dev/urandom or a suitable replacement. After I brought this issue up and reminded Sun that they were trying to get to a Linux-compatible API, they backported their Solaris 9 /dev/urandom to Solaris 8 with patch 112438-01. Imagine my shock that Sun actually implemented one of my RFE's.
Well said, I think this is the reasoning behind the move. Let "newbies" migrate their servers from Windows to Linux (hey, it's cheap), then once they outgrow their x86 box it will be easy to move to Sun hardware without porting their business application or whatever it is their running. Brilliant idea! I guess Sun realises it is better to have people using Linux than Windows, since they are more likely to move to Sun from Linux than they are from Windows. Linux makes a good intermediate step.
It would cause chaos. Come on, they just can't ship Solaris 9 and replace the Sun tar with the GNU tar. I'll give you that GNU tar is way better than the one Sun ships (the GNU tar comes first in my $PATH), but people have written software (Solaris package install scripts, for example) expecting the Sun tar to be there and take a certain set of arguments. Maybe tar is a bad example, but you get the idea.
Sun is doing the smart thing by gradually switching things over. They have some GNU stuff available in the core install, and some GNU stuff available on a second CD. I now can write software for Solaris assuming Perl is installed, for example.
This will improve slowly, over time.
Do you even know anything about perl? -- AC Replying to Tom Christiansen post.
Sorry, but I think you Linux evangalists are plain wrong. I work for a company that supplies managed services to blue chip firms and the demand is still there for Sun boxes, due to the quality of the OS and hardware they ship. Linux may have the some features of Solaris, but it doesn't *yet* have the track record and enterprise level support that our clients require. The worrying thing is that whilst for smaller shops Linux is being used for low end web servers etc, for our customers they'd rather use W2K in the cases where they can't justify the cost of a Sun box : /bin/ls I like it, but of all the UNIX like platforms I've worked on Solaris is my favourite.
A few things I like from Solaris that Linux doesn't really have yet... Scalability, I know its not an issue for most of you guys, but Suns 106-way boxes are really quite neat. Technologies such as JumpStart, which make rolling out a new web cluster a breeze. Stable IPv6/IPSEC support. Comprehensive support, from *one* source. A top class architecture to run the damn thing on.
I like Linux, don't get me wrong, I personally have 2 Debs boxes and manage a Slack box in Slovenia, but I also have a FreeBSD box, Sparc running Solaris 8 and a HPUX powered PA-RISC machine.
My attitude is that if it has
Tim Brown
When I finish the installation of a Solaris box I spend many hours installing by hand things so it's
more like linux.
Spend a couple of hours setting up and customizing a Jumpstart server instead. It's a simple matter to have a script automatically install the packages you want from sunfreeware (or from your own repository).
How would adding cool Solaris features to Linux help Sun:
Good questions, and I'm not sure the answers are as comforting as you would like. But here goes.
It wouldn't actively cause migration from Linux to Solaris, but when the time comes to upgrade from a low cost Linux solution to something bigger and better, will it be Sun, HPaq, IBM, SGI? If Solaris is most compatible, then that choice will be Sun. Of course users will drink free milk as long as they can, but someday they'll need more milk than the free cows can give. The key is to insure that low end cheap server market goes into the UNIX world on a upgrade path that leads to you rather than your competitors.
Low end SPARC hardware sales are a losing proposition at this point in time. Sun has reasonably good high end offerings, but in the low end they're offering Solaris/SPARC vs either Wintel or Lintel. Lintel is the ultimate lowest cost option and, while it eats the lunch of low- end SPARC, that lunch was going to be eaten anyway by either Wintel or Lintel. At least the Linux box keeps users in the UNIX world where Sun has a lot of software experience to offer. Logically, you want the cost of rewriting business application logic transitioning from Linux to Solaris to be small. Also, 64-way Solaris/SPARC machines give those UNIX users at the low end a scalable upgrade path that is missing from the Wintel world.
Granted, it's harder to make money where much of what was previously offered is becoming commoditized, but it's an irresistable force that the market is demanding.
Ride that wave and anticipate where it's going instead of trying to stop it.
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