Sun Enhancements to OpenSolaris Take Aim at Linux (
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Sun Microsystems OpenSolaris 2008.11 includes improvements around software package management and incorporating community packaging efforts. The updates to the free Solaris-based OS shows that Sun will not follow IBM and HP in letting Linux take over the platform space once dominated by Unix.OpenSolaris 2008.11, the second major release of Sun Microsystems
freely-licensed, Solaris-based operating system, hit the Web late last
year packed with feature enhancements that illustrate that Sun isn't
about to cede the platform stage to Linux, as brothers-in-Unix such as
IBM's AIX and Hewlett-Packards HP-UX have done.
Taking a cue from popular Linux distributions, Sun's OpenSolaris
improvements center around a bolstered software package management
framework that includes both client-side tools for installing and
updating applications, and back-end facilities for channeling community
packaging efforts into the project.
In my tests, I found Sun's package management framework, which is
anchored by the still-young Image Packaging System, much improved from
the facilities that shipped with Solaris 10. However, while Sun is on
the right track here, I found the software tools less streamlined and
the breadth of available software packages less broad than what I've
come to expect from Linux distributions such as Ubuntu.
The other key area in which OpenSolaris shows both improvement and
the need for further improvement is in the repackaging of Sun's
industry-leading, server-focused technologies for use in more
general-purpose scenarios. One of the most eye-catching features of
OpenSolaris 2008.11 is its new Time Slider tool, which wraps the
snapshotting capabilities of Sun's ZFS file system in an elegant and
useful tool for accessing previous versions of files and directories on
one's system.
For OpenSolaris to vie successfully for larger mind share among the
Linux/Unix developer community at which it is aimed, Sun must expose
more of Solaris' unique functionality in the way that the company has
done with Time Slider.
For instance, no matter how well Sun and the OpenSolaris community
organize their software packaging efforts, there will be a significant
amount of software that won't run on Solaris. It's possible to run
Linux software from OpenSolaris using the platform's branded containers
feature, but this Linux-on-Solaris option, called BrandZ, requires a
significant amount of fiddling to get up and running.
For those interested in learning more about Sun's platform,
OpenSolaris can serve well as a desktop or notebook workstation,
provided that the system supports your hardware. The distribution's
installer disk is a LiveCD that makes it easy to test whether
OpenSolaris supports your gear with very little investment.
OpenSolaris includes most of the default desktop software that ships
with a Linux distribution, including the Firefox 3 Web browser,
OpenOffice.org 3 productivity suite, and the GNOME desktop environment,
with its range of included applications.
As with the Linux-based distributions from which OpenSolaris takes
its organizational cues, OpenSolaris can also be used as a server
operating system, running applications downloaded through IPS,
installed via the traditional Solaris SVR4 package system, or compiled
directly on the machine.
OpenSolaris is freely downloadable from opensolaris.com,
but for those who wish to deploy OpenSolaris in production settings,
Sun offers commercial support for the distribution in two levels:
essential support, which starts at $324 per system per year, and
production support, which starts at $2,160 per system per year. You can
find the details of these support subscriptions here.
| | Reader Comments: Sun Enhancements to OpenSolaris Take Aim at Linux | | >>> Post your comment now!
| | A user comment on this articleInstead of using VMware, try downloading VirtualBox from www.virtualbox.org as it supports Solaris/OpenSolaris, Linux, Windows and Macs.
The 3D... Posted At: 02-27-09 By: Anonymous | | | | | | A user comment on this article'Cause maybe the community is larger and more people are available to figure it out... That's why Sun has the Device Driver Utility and it's online... Posted At: 02-09-09 By: OpenSolaris User | | | | | | It isn't GPLAs far as I know, OpenSolaris is licensed under CDDL, not GPL
Java is the one under GPL Posted At: 02-09-09 By: Pedro Reis | | | | | | MisconceptionIt's a misconception that Solaris (SunOS) runs poorly on old hardware.
I have a 4x Pentium Pro @200MHz (that's "two hundred"!) system with 768MB... Posted At: 02-07-09 By: UX-admin | | | | | | ?"As far as vendor lock-in is concerned it is about as locked in as using the Linux kernel in every Linux distro."
I didn't mention... Posted At: 02-05-09 By: EvilPixieMan | | | | | | I wish solaris would work on my hardwareI have tried opensolaris a number of times and it won't work with my hardware. once I found the compatibility tool and ran it I saved a lot of time... Posted At: 02-03-09 By: Anonymous | | | | | | Re: Sun still doesn't get it....Too, I should add. I think it is good for there to be novel ideas and other operating systems out in the world. If there aren't we'll be stuck and... Posted At: 02-03-09 By: Wade Chandler | | | | | | >>> Post your comment now! | | | | | |
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