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Oracle Solaris 11 Express Released

Posted by Soulskill on from the long-time-coming dept.

comay writes "Today Oracle released Solaris 11 Express 2010.11. It includes a large number of new features (PDF) not found in either Oracle Solaris 10 or previous OpenSolaris releases, including ZFS encryption and deduplication, network-based packaging and provisioning systems, network virtualization, optimized I/O for NUMA platforms and optimized platform support including support for Intel's latest Nehalem and SPARC T3. In addition, Oracle Solaris 10 support is available from within a container/zone so migration of existing systems is greatly simplified." Reader gtirloni adds, "Oracle also announced that this is not a beta or preview, but a full, supported release aimed at everybody developing, testing, prototyping or demonstrating applications running on the latest Solaris release (not allowed to be used in production)."

8 of 160 comments (clear)

  1. Full, Supported Release -- That we can't use by Chuck_McDevitt · · Score: 5, Informative

    So, it's a "Full, Supported Release", but we can't use it for anything except as a development platform (and what to deploy on?). From the license agreement: We can't "use the Programs for your own internal business purposes... or for any commercial or production purposes" So in reality, it's just a way to show off, an try to keep people from jumping ship to linux. It's definitely the antithesis of FOSS -- nothing is free about it.

    1. Re:Full, Supported Release -- That we can't use by syousef · · Score: 5, Insightful

      So, it's a "Full, Supported Release", but we can't use it for anything except as a development platform (and what to deploy on?).

      From the license agreement: We can't "use the Programs for your own internal business purposes... or for any commercial or production purposes"

      So in reality, it's just a way to show off, an try to keep people from jumping ship to linux.

      It's definitely the antithesis of FOSS -- nothing is free about it.

      They're just giving away the development tools for free. So when/if developers use them, and end users like the result, they've got you by the short and curlies. It's a time honoured tradition, often rightly or wrongly compared to a drug dealer's "the first hit is free, kid".

      --
      These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
  2. Yes, looks that way to me... by Bill,+Shooter+of+Bul · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This is only allowed to be used in dev. They killed Open Solaris. It certainly seems like they are killing a good part of the *free* stuff from Sun to me.

    --
    Well.. maybe. Or Maybe not. But Definitely not sort of.
  3. Minor quibble... by trims · · Score: 5, Informative

    Yes, you can't use the free download version for any production use. It's really annoying, and severely limits the usefulness of S11 Express.

    However, note that if you have an Oracle Premium Support contract (all Oracle Support is Premium ;-), then you have an entitlement to use S11 Express in a production environment, and receive normal support for it, just like you have an RTU and Support for Oracle Linux and Oracle Solaris 10 via the same contract.

    This is just an FYI - I'm not commenting on the utility or "goodness" of S11Express.

    -Erik

    --
    There are always four sides to every story: your side, their side, the truth, and what really happened.
    1. Re:Minor quibble... by j_sp_r · · Score: 5, Informative

      A mere $1000,- per Socket.

      https://shop.oracle.com/pls/ostore/f?p=ostore:product:2847258479365119::NO:RP,3:P3_LPI,P3_PROD_HIER_ID:27242443094470222098916,14755487300180585563861

  4. Re:Full, Supported Release -- CORRECTION by gtirloni · · Score: 5, Informative

    It seems you actually CAN request a support contract for Solaris 11 Express. The issue seems to be that the download from the Oracle Technology Network alone doesn't give you that hability (to use in production). It looks like they should have paid more attention to the wording... the download from OTN shouldn't be used in production but if you want support to use it in production, contact Oracle. This has been pointed out to many people, perhaps they will make that more explicity. The download page also mentions it's a "full supported release".

    --
    none
  5. Re:Solaris 11 will be available in 2011 by Corporate+Troll · · Score: 5, Informative

    He's talking about OpenSolaris... The open source branch. He's right about that, it's effectively been killed.

  6. Yesterday's News by segedunum · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Solaris had it's shot at being something the Slashdot crowd could pick up and run with, but given that you can't use Solaris for anything useful now I'm not sure how this qualifies as news. Solaris is now a very high-end OS that's as relevant to people as AIX is, because that's the only feasible place it can survive now.