> > For the desktop (forgot to add) - given the fabulous reputation that > > Oracle has for security (chuckles) I wouldn't be using that as a poster > > boy anytime soon. > > What sorts of commercial desktop applications would you want? And that > doesn't seem to be something that is a fallacy of Linux, but more > anything that isn't MacOS or Windows. > > i.e.: do you see something available desktop-wise for Solaris that Linux > doesn't have?
no, I said that if there isn't a stable base, commercial software won't come (that applies to Linux) hence my concern that if Solaris doesn't have a stable base, commercial software won't come to Solaris. What would I like to see - SonicStage would be nice or atleast some sort of GTK application which allows me to syncronise between my minidisc player and *NIX. Side issue, win4solaris doesn't support minidisc usb - it only supports the very basic usb devices. > >> I won't touch the hardware support. But I don't think it's as dire as > >> you claim. Third party hardware support is probably better on Linux > >> than on OpenSolaris. > > > > How so? ATI drivers which are buggy and unreliable due to their > > unsubstantiated paranoia over 'IP'. > > But still better than what we have under Solaris. True, but given the unreliability of it, one could argue that it is best that Solaris doesn't have it. > > I never said Linux was better, I said that when push comes to shove, and > > a company had to choose between supporting a moveing target, Linux > > driver API and ABI woes, and making their driver for Solaris - it makes > > no sense investing into something that yields more pain and missery than > > producing any more customers at the end of the day. > > Agreed - but that's not actually what you said. You said: > "I do, various distributions, all incompatibile with each other, no > standardisation process - people wonder why there are no commercial > applications and hardly any third party hardware support on Linux - > thats the elephant in the corner of the room." > > ... implying that multiple distributions was one of the causes for your > perceived lack of third party hardware support. Yes, there is a lack of 'third party hardware support' or atleast quality third party hardware support. When are we going to see Apple officially support iPod on Linux, Sony officially support Minidisc on Linux, when are we going to see games vendors on Linux. All this goes back - what do I support, how many distributions do I support, what are the differences, will they add to the cost of maintaining the products etc. etc. > >> I'm not saying having so many distributions is a good thing, especially > >> when they all seem to implement things a little differently. But let's > >> face it, the kernel is the kernel (that's Linux after all) and that's > >> mostly compatible between distributions. > > > > Compatible?! talk to ATI customes who are at the mercy of whether > > AMD/ATI can be stuffed creatingn compatible kernel drivers for their > > distribution due to inter-distribution incompatibilities. > > .... and yet they still have drivers .... while our singular > OpenSolaris/Solaris platform doesn't.... which makes me believe that > it's not the "multiple distribution" factor which causes that. > I fully agree that the lack of a stable DDI hurts Linux, and that's a > strength we should continue to push with an OpenSolaris platform - but > having multiple distributions with a single compatible DDI and kernel > should not hinder 3rd party hardware vendors from producing drivers. Hence the reason as I said previously; if there is a common core and the only difference is what floats ontop of it, its all good. The problem is when people start creating OpenSolaris kernels with patches that break compatibility and cause all manner of problems. When you end up with 5 OpenSolaris distributions and each apply their own special patches which breaks compatibility with each other. Matthew -- Blog: http://kaiwai.blogspot.com _______________________________________________ opensolaris-discuss mailing list [email protected]
