On Tue, Jul 6, 2010 at 12:51 PM, Edward Ned Harvey <solar...@nedharvey.com> wrote: > I continually say that solaris & opensolaris are designed to be servers, not > desktops. I'd like to go into the reasons why, and see what other opinions > people have about this.
I disagree; both Solaris and OpenSolaris are perfectly fine on the desktop. I use both in desktop situations, definitely in preference to other OSes. Solaris is a good server OS; OpenSolaris less so due to current weaknesses in deployment capabilities. Just as an example of something that makes OpenSolaris a great desktop platform: ZFS. Desktops can be more dynamic environments, so using ZFS, snapshots, and boot environments to protect you against unwanted consequences of a change going bad. Snapshots of your data (as in Time Slider) become even more valuable on a desktop, where you may be more likely to accidentally mangle something and don't have enterprise class backup to protect you. And you really want to have a strong presence on the desktop; that's where the next generation of applications and administrators for your servers are going to come from. > The characteristics that I think make up servers: > > Servers are always on. Yet shouldn't be. > Servers don't need power management; they never sleep. They definitely do; far more than desktops, as a rule. (If you mean sleep when the lid is closed, buy a Mac.) > Servers are used remotely for the most part. If you mean they're physically separate, then the only real constraint that loosens is that servers don't all need to be so quiet or to be so neatly polished. > The characteristics that I think make up desktops: > > Desktops have features which enhance process management and task switching. Desktop usage tend to be single-app at a time. You occasionally move from one app to the next. Servers continually switch between many users. > Desktops can easily run and be compatible with random web apps, like > dropbox, skype, flash, silverlight, etc. Who wants to be compatible with every bit of random crap? The present trend is away from this lunacy. > Desktops are expected to wake and sleep on a regular basis. Buy a Mac. > Desktops do your audio/video But it's usually a fairly dire experience. Dedicated devices do it so much better. > Desktops need to connect with printers regularly. Often with servers as intermediaries. > Desktops have external peripherals connected regularly - usb drives, > cameras, webcmas, headphones/headset, etc. Nowhere near as much of some of the Xmas-tree servers I've seen. > Desktops will run your web browsers, office apps, pdf viewers, etc. Mail > clients, etc. As can servers. > Desktops will roam from network to network. You need to do wifi well. You > need to do network security/firewall well. Roaming and wifi are more a feature of mobile devices > So now, the reasons why I think solaris/opensolaris are well suited to be > servers and not so much as desktops: > > > > gnome etc, the gui of opensolaris is no better at task switching and > application management than windows XP was. This is obsolete compared to > aero, aqua, or compiz. (win7, osx, and ubuntu) These other OSes offer > gui's which are much more powerful and flexible in terms of application > management and task switching. The interfaces in OpenSolaris and Ubuntu (well, a comparable Ubuntu release) aren't that different. And, to be honest, we're getting worse over time - heading more toward the single-tasking metaphor rather than the true multitasking that was common in the past. > The application availability on sol/osol is not as good as win/mac/linux. > For example: Dropbox and skype are both available win/mac/linux. No > solaris. Flash is available win/mac/linux/solaris. Silverlight is > available win/mac. No linux or solaris. Bittorrent: win/mac/linux. > > There are no desktop apps available in sol/osol, which aren't also available > in the other platforms. But there are lots of apps available in the other > platforms, which aren't available in sol/osol. That's a problem, for sure. I'm less convinced that it's as big a problem as you might think; I've never been bothered by it, the apps available on the traditional competitive platforms are stunningly underwhelming. Now, compare the traditional desktop landscape to something like the iPad or iPhone and you realise we're all being left in the dust. > I have never put sol/osol to sleep. So I cannot say anything about this. > Does it work? Is it highly configurable and reliable? My kids use to do that perfectly well with their Sparc desktops many years ago. (Again, you want that, you buy a Mac. Still.) > Hardware compatibility for audio/video is a problem for sol/osol. Not very > good at 3D. Not compatible with lots of webcams and microphone devices and > cameras etc. And printers. Actually, it's pretty damn good at all. And likely to get better, as market pressures force oddball components out of the market completely. > For both sol/osol and linux, there is no good calendar application. You > need either Outlook, Entourage, or iCal for this. Reliable reminders > available online/offline, with addressbook and email integration. This is a huge gap, but I wouldn't hold up outlook as a shining example. Given how important mail, scheduling, workflow, and collaboration are in businesses, the available offerings are staggeringly poor. > By default during installation, even if you indicate you aren't going to use > it remotely, sshd is enabled. > > By default, there is no firewall. So enable it. There's a gap here though (the same sort of gap that is true in other areas) - we ought to have some standard profiles made available so that people can just pick one and use that as a base. > I haven't used sol/osol for wifi. Does it have a good wifi utility for > joining networks? I have a couple of laptops. OpenSolaris just works, flawlessly, on the one - much better than either Windows or Linux do. On the other, it kinda works but gets confused by low signal strength far too easily. The connection interface doesn't vary much between platforms, but I do confess to getting incredibly annoyed by the gnome network widgets constantly popping things up at me. -- -Peter Tribble http://www.petertribble.co.uk/ - http://ptribble.blogspot.com/ _______________________________________________ opensolaris-discuss mailing list opensolaris-discuss@opensolaris.org
