Jensen Lee wrote:
> 2) Posting here a private reply, please reply to the forum not by eMail:
I don't use the webforum, but the mailing list version of opensolaris-help,
so always reply via e-mail to the mailing list, which then gets posted to
the web forum.
>> Then you're sending it to the wrong place - a few engineers read
>> opensolaris-help, but I doubt any of the VP's who decide what to
>> fund will ever know you posted, and it's going to be a lot harder
>> sell now. In case you haven't read the press, Sun is losing money,
>> and isn't going to solve that by spending more on supporting hardware
>> that hasn't been sold in year and isn't likely to bring in enough
>> paid support contracts to cover the expense of providing that support
>
> What Sun's VPs fail to understand and acknowledge is that most opensource
> contributors are enthusiastic and with no access to sufficient funds to
> purchase NEW and SUPPORTED Sun hardware to dedicate to their hobby. They
> require access to inexpensive hardware, and like it or not this is normally
> sourced second-hand on eBay. Sun have pursued the right avenue to open their
> software, but they will be able to expand contribution exponentially only by
> continuing to support their older and inexpensive hardware.
There is a lot more supported inexpensive hardware available on the x86
side than the SPARC side, and that's what the vast majority of the open
source contributors have been using.
> At least they should be doing the right thing to "open" the source code of
> every hardware component Sun no longer plan to support commercially, to
> encourage their continued use and support in the "open" market.
I don't know about other devices, but for the SPARC Graphics cards,
Sun cannot open the sources to most of them without violating the
contracts with the vendors who actually made the devices that Sun
OEM'ed.
--
-Alan Coopersmith- alan.coopersmith at sun.com
Sun Microsystems, Inc. - X Window System Engineering
