Aloha all,
I have managed to install Solaris 10 and Java Desktop System 3 on an
Athlon64 machine in a simple triple-boot configuration (RHEL4,
WinXP-Pro, & Solaris 10). Sun has provided very good instructions.
Thus, although I have known Solaris only by name, this process was
relatively uneventful. But there are a lot of things Solaris can
benefit from many of the progresses and experiences that Linux has
accumulated in recent years.
Solaris seems to have some advantages over Linux. E. g., StarOffice 7
seems to load substantially faster in Solaris than in Linux. I don't
know whether this is due to a different kernel or a better integration,
or both. (Or my hallucination?)
However, OpenSolaris, which will be based on the CDDL licensing scheme,
does offer a distinct alternative for hardware manufacturers and small
software developers to participate in the open source development,
especially at the kernel level. GPL is great, and probably should be
worshiped. But it is always good to have alternatives. Sun has
unleashed an army of their own developers to blog this issue; there is
no need for me to act like I am one of Sun's mouthpieces.
Since mid-January, there have been over 1,000,000 Solaris 10 downloads.
I am interested in exploring if anyone in our community is interested in
exploring OpenSolaris. Since I don't know anything about Solaris, this
will be like an OpenSolaris self-study group. Eric Boutlier (of Sun)
has started a "Solaris from Scratch" weblog, this is something I am
interested in following at least at the outset.
I am signing off now. If the Saturday 2-4 pm workshop is still on, I
will be there during the first hour. In addition to OpenSolaris, if you
are interested in discussing the fed's 10-year, $20-billion, "Networx
2007" procurement project, we can touch that subject, too. Wayne
