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IBM Derides OpenSolaris as Not-So-Open

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the when-the-playground's-in-full-swing dept.

MaverickFire writes "OpenSolaris isn't a true open-source project, but rather a "facade," because Sun Microsystems doesn't share control of it with outsiders, executives from rival IBM say. "Sun holds it all behind the firewall. The community sees nothing," Dan Frye, the IBM vice president who runs the company's Linux Technology Center, said. Sun could do "simple things" to build a real OpenSolaris community if it were serious about doing so, Frye said. "They would push their design discussions out into the forums, so people can see what's going on," he suggested." I talked to one of the OpenSolaris developers at the project's LWCE booth in the "dot-org ghetto," and though it wasn't in response to this article, he pointed out that OpenSolaris takes contributions from all comers, has active public mailing lists, open IRC channels, and several online communities, so Frye's description seems at least overblown.

6 of 168 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Hypocrites... by Mateo_LeFou · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I don't know... IBM hasn't been out and about announcing how open-source AIX and OS/2 are (going to be) (any day now). The problem here is that Sun seems to want all the PR that a "leader of the FOSS community" deserves without actually dipping more than their big toe in the water.

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  2. Re:Hypocrites... by AKAImBatman · · Score: 3, Interesting
    The problem here is that Sun seems to want all the PR that a "leader of the FOSS community" deserves without actually dipping more than their big toe in the water.
    I'd say that OSSing OpenSolars + JDS (the parts above and beyond GNome) + Looking Glass 3D + SPARC T1 is quite a step above "dipping their big toe". IBM acts as if they have the moral high ground simply because they've contributed to and promoted Linux. While their contributions are appreciated, I hardly see them as equalling that of releasing a complete OS.

    As you said, consumers have been clammering for IBM to OSS OS/2. (Tick, Tock, Tick, Tock) We're still waiting.

    IBM hasn't been out and about announcing how open-source AIX and OS/2 are (going to be) (any day now).
    What would be interesting to keep an eye on is if OpenAIX or OpenOS/2 show up anytime soon. If they do, it could be indicitive that this FUD is all part of IBM's plan to promote their own OSS projects. Another thing to consider if this happens, is if they would have been released without Sun taking action first?
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  3. Re:IBM is wrong by mwvdlee · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The key question is; if Sun tries to kill OpenSolaris development, can they do it?

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  4. Re:Hypocrites... by lewp · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I wasn't so much saying the IBM guy is wrong, than I'm saying he's the wrong person to be pointing it out.

    Between OpenOffice, OpenSolaris, and their work with GNOME, Sun has made plenty of solid contributions to OSS. Now they're supposedly opening the source for Java, which is the one thing everyone's been screaming about for the past five years and -- IMHO -- the only thing that keeps Sun relevant anymore.

    I don't give a rat's ass about Sun, but they seem to be trying. Some douche from IBM doesn't need to be getting in their face because their OS code isn't open enough when IBM won't put AIX or OS/2 out there at all.

    And the comment about there only being room for one open source OS is total bullshit. I hope his opinion doesn't represent the majority of IBM's staff.

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  5. Re:Hypocrites... by chabotc · · Score: 4, Interesting

    But IBM never claimed to opensource their OS's.. so i don't see what their 'offence' is, sun however does tout the 'we are all about open source' horn, but in practise is not so much

    Also IBM isn't such an offender, they've contributed a lot to the kernel, apache, and many many many oss projects; Which is something i personally value a lot more then opensourcing OS/2 forinstance ;-)

  6. Re:The key paragraph by Score+Whore · · Score: 3, Interesting
    Maybe they are, but IBM is still on our side for this battle anyhow. IBM's big money comes from services, Sun's big money comes from expensive hardware.


    Apparently you've never priced Sun and IBM hardware. Sun's bottom end x86 server is $745, or $945 for a dual core Opteron. They're lowest end SPARC is $3145. IBM's bottom end x86 server is $1129. They're lowest end p-series is $2995 for a PPC970, for an actual POWER5 system it's $3399 and then you have to license the software on top of that.

    Claiming that Sun is selling overpriced hardware just indicates that you really aren't in touch with the market.