OpenSolaris-based OSes a Threat to Linux?

sunBoy asks: "A number of OpenSolaris-based Operating Systems are popping up on the map. BeleniX (screenshots), SchilliX and Nexenta (screenshots) are a few OSes which have hit the headlines in the past couple of weeks. Some say OpenSolaris has a leg up on Linux - 'For Linux, we're trying to push many distributions through to compress them into a standard. With OpenSolaris, we are already at the small end of standardization. What will follow is more OpenSolaris distributions spreading out from that core.' Is OpenSolaris really a threat to Linux?" Less of a threat and more of an alternative. Would more Unix-based alternatives on the market really be a bad thing?

Comments

evolution has already spoken

[aminorex]

The fitness race has already picked a winner, IMHO: Solaris kernel with Debian user-space
and a mixed KDE/Gnome desktop. It's just a question of how long it will take for the market
to find this global optimum, via stochastic walk.

Re:evolution has already spoken

[mnmn]

Sure there is.
The one still standing is the winner.

Do I see Tru64, System V, Ultrix, Xenix, IRIX around?

Well, yeah...

[wbren]

Less of a threat and more of an alternative. Would more Unix-based alternatives on the market really be a bad thing?

Well yeah, more alternatives might be a bad thing, depending on how you look at it. One of my biggest gripes with Linux in particular is the abundance of distributions. While it's sometimes handy to have a distribution tailored to different groups of users, it is a pain to support and use.

I know every distribution wants to be unique and innovative, but why do we need so many different package managers, for example. I don't want 20 different text editors in my accessories menu; I want one that does the job really well. The same thing goes for distributions. I want one that does everything well. It would make users' lives easier and much less confusing. Hell, there isn't even a standard windows manager in use today. Come on people, if we ever hope to make Linux popular, it has to be standard, in every way possible. It needs a standard look and feel. It needs standard applications and protocols for installing programs. The way things look now, it won't be standard anytime soon. I know this article is about UNIX, but I think the same idea applies.

Lets wait...

[OneFix at Work]

Lets just wait till there's a major distributor (besides Sun) that offers support for OpenSolaris...

What you say? Sun won't even offer commercial support for OpenSolaris?

So, you can't get support for any OpenSolaris distro from a major vendor...yea, I can see how it may have the upper hand here...

Till I can find at least 2 major distributors that offer commercial support for OpenSolaris, I wouldn't count on it being anymore than an interesting project.

You can bet that Sun is gonna make sure that any commecrial support from other companies comes through Solaris and not OpenSolaris...

Less puffing, more development please

[andyross]

As much as I think a Solaris-based free unix would be a good thing, OpenSolaris just isn't there yet. Linux has long since cross the threshold where a typical user (an enthusiast perhaps, but not a hacker) can drop a CD into a typical desktop machine and get a working, internet-connected workstation. OpenSolaris isn't even close yet.

The immediate problem is a sad lack of drivers for very common hardware that Sun has never shipped, like wireless networking (an Atheros driver just went into their tree a few weeks back; I believe that's the only one so far), ACPI power management, etc... Solaris has always been an OS for servers and managed workstations, so there are big holes in the coverage for "consumer" devices and laptop hardware.

Note that Sun itself has no "OpenSolaris" distribution you can download, only a source tree. The void has been filled heretofore by hand-cooked distros like SchilliX and BeleniX, which are roughly analagous to early linux distros like SLS and Slackware -- no (or minimal) package management, no exhaustive software selection, etc... Just a bare machine with a userspace into which you can compile your own stuff.

Nexenta looks promising, being an attempt to port the Debian (i.e. GNU, not Solaris) userspace onto the OpenSolaris kernel. I haven't tried it so I'll withhold judgement. But honestly, it's got a long way to go. Note that the existing linux desktops tend to rely on the hotplug/udev/hal/dbus architecture for much of their hardware interface, and none of this exists on Solaris to my knowlege. Someone will have to port it.

Honestly, at the moment OpenSolaris advocates would be better advised to spend time writing drivers and packaging a distro than submitting flame wars to slashdot. The world has lots of space for another free unix, but it needs to catch up before puffing about itself as "Linux killer".

Really at the end of the day, what's the point?

[bernywork]

Why would I go for OpenSolaris? What benefits do I get as an end user? (Lets just run with this as a theory for a second)

I don't have the packages that are developed for Linux, there isn't any major "killer app" out there to make me want to switch. Really at the end of the day, what's the REALLY big bonus to running OpenSolaris now?

This is the question that I pose to you all here, this is the same question that a lot of IT Managers ask about Linux when comparing it to Microsoft Windows, but we have a few answers to that question.

Admittedly if you are a 100% Solaris shop (Solaris SysAdmin for example who wants to run Solaris on his 3Ghz P4 that sits under his desk) then you might consider it. There isn't a community around this to support it yet either.

One thing that could turn up would be application support from vendors that currently don't support Linux. If that turns up, then things could heat up.

I know it's early days, and choices are great, but Linux I think has filled that void. There are how many Linux distributions out there now? Do we really need 400 Solaris kerneled distributions out there?

I know this sounds like a FUD session, but I don't want it to be. Just trying to encourage some comments.

Anyway enough ranting, what do you guys think?

Re:Competion is good for you

[mikehoskins]

Agreed, and I, for one welcome the new competition.

And no, OpenSolaris will never de-throne Linux -- at least not without a lot of money and time....

Linux has several things on its side:
    More users in general
    More fanatical users, that do things "for the love of the code"
    More software (OK, most things are ported/portable, but much more software is "first tier" on Linux)
    More momentum
    More installations
    More documentation
    More press (Is OpenSolaris a household word? Has grandma ever heard about OpenSolaris?)
    More freedom
    More flexibility
    More user-friendliness
    More drivers and hardware support, in general
    More platforms
    More open sourcecode

With a wave of a wand, you can't expect OpenSolaris to take off overnight, this year, next year, nor the following year. In fact, it's been open for months now, and what do we have? A very small amount of momentum and three new distros, much of which is a cobbling together of OpenSolaris and pieces of Linux distributions....

OpenSolaris is late to the party, but I probably will try it out, especially to re-sharpen my Solaris skills. But I probably won't host anything, unless it is a specific customer requirement.

What is scary is that many PHB's don't understand opensource. Many think OpenSolaris is not somehow bad, since Solaris went opensource. Go figure....