The Rigged-Up Net

Not many open source aficionados will realize the impact, but by making Solaris 10 free and capable of operating on any kind of hardware, Sun is making a coup in the server market.

Sun will shine again and leave Linux in its shade

This article is interesting, but I have some thoughts on what he says:

– The Solaris software is of proven quality and at least equal or better then Linux and the open source model will assure that it stays up there.

Unfortunately for Solaris, Linux has been open source for years… this means that it will take awhile for Solaris to get “cleaned up”. However, eventually this will be true.

– By making it work with competing hardware platforms, there is no reason anymore to switch software to facilitate lower hardware costs.

Solaris doesn’t work on every platform that Linux does… most notably PowerPC… once again, this will take years to get done… porting and testing takes lots of time.

– Sun with Solaris has already a large installed base and by becoming free and open source there is no reason for existing Solaris users to switch to Linux.

This may be true, but I’m pretty sure that Linux’s installed base is much larger. I agree that if you’re already a Solaris user, its less likely you’ll switch but there are other reasons to migrate off of Solaris than cost. For one thing, its much easier to find someone who is familiar with Linux and can help you troubleshoot something.

– Sun has a proven reputation in terms of quality of support. This should be at least as good or better then that of the Linux supporters.

Sun may have a great support department – but not all people pay for tech support… in this case, Linux’s larger installed user base yields tons of “free support” options… Personally, I know only a couple of people who have enough experience with Solaris to help troubleshoot a simple problem. So if you had the money to pay for Sun support in the first place, you probably had few thoughts of switching in the first place.

– Because Sun by default is the only designated party managing the open source software, there will be no risk of a version bonanza with multiple incompatible versions.

This also limits its ability to grow and stretch… Forking has its pro’s and con’s, but eliminating its ability to fork eliminates all pro’s. So limiting forking may look like a feature, but really its a limitation.