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OpenSolaris is dead

blogs.everycity.co.uk

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Re: OpenSolaris is dead

#41

Post by mcantelon »

pclark wrote: post #38

Everyone seems to have missed - or be ignoring - the fundamentals of Oracle. They aren't in this game to change the world (ala Sun), or improve the lives of developers, they're in this to make bucket loads of cash if products they acquire will not make them money - they will ruthlessly cut it. They aren't hackers. They aren't designers. They aren't entrepreneurs. They're business men. Similarly if you dare compete wi…

If money matters and innovation doesn't the oil industry is likely a better place to be than tech.

Re: OpenSolaris is dead

#43

Post by pclark »

mcantelon wrote: post #41
pclark wrote: post #38

Everyone seems to have missed - or be ignoring - the fundamentals of Oracle. They aren't in this game to change the world (ala Sun), or improve the lives of developers, they're in this to make bucket loads of cash if products they acquire will not make them money - they will ruthlessly cut it. They aren't hackers. They aren't designers. They aren't entrepreneurs. They're business men. Similarly if you dare compete wi…

If money matters and innovation doesn't the oil industry is likely a better place to be than tech.

It depends how you get said money - by being innovative perhaps.

Re: OpenSolaris is dead

#44

Post by mcantelon »

pclark wrote: post #43
mcantelon wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If money matters and innovation doesn't the oil industry is likely a better place to be than tech.

It depends how you get said money - by being innovative perhaps.

Is Oracle innovative compared to Google or Apple?

Re: OpenSolaris is dead

#46

Post by spudlyo »

moondowner wrote: post #13

OpenSolaris was dead long ago, this only opened the eyes to the people optimistic that things will change and there will be a future OpenSolaris release. "We will determine a simple, cost-effective means of getting enterprise users of prior OpenSolaris binary releases to migrate to S11 Express." -- Says enough. "We will continue to grow a vibrant developer and system administrator community for Solaris." -- I really…

"We will continue to grow a vibrant developer and system administrator community for Solaris." -- I really wonder how.

They really killed the wrong Solaris. If they embraced the GNU userland (as OpenSolaris did) they would have had a much better shot at getting more raised-on-Linux admins and developers to embrace their OS. As it is, the current BSD flavored Solaris tools are so crufty and incompatible it leaves many Linux users with a distinct loathing for the OS.

Re: OpenSolaris is dead

#47

Post by wipt »

spudlyo wrote: post #46
moondowner wrote: post #13

OpenSolaris was dead long ago, this only opened the eyes to the people optimistic that things will change and there will be a future OpenSolaris release. "We will determine a simple, cost-effective means of getting enterprise users of prior OpenSolaris binary releases to migrate to S11 Express." -- Says enough. "We will continue to grow a vibrant developer and system administrator community for Solaris." -- I really…

"We will continue to grow a vibrant developer and system administrator community for Solaris." -- I really wonder how. They really killed the wrong Solaris. If they embraced the GNU userland (as OpenSolaris did) they would have had a much better shot at getting more raised-on-Linux admins and developers to embrace their OS. As it is, the current BSD flavored Solaris tools are so crufty and incompatible it leaves many…

Did OpenSolaris use GNU userland? Or are you confusing the official branch with on of the forks? BSD isn't dead, and is different but not in bad ways. Don't bad mouth something (BSD) because you don't use it.

Companies are much less likely to embrace GNU anything, GNU just doesn't fly that way. BSD license is much more permissive, and therefore much more attractive to companies.

Re: OpenSolaris is dead

#48

Post by wipt »

rikthevik wrote: post #32
nailer wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think everyone who read 'Solaris is the #1 Enterprise Operating System', raised an eyebrow, then read 'We have more than twice the application base of AIX and HP-UX combined' and chuckled.

I read that to say 'Solaris is the #1 (SysV-based) Enterprise Operating System'

Linux IS SysV-based, though

Re: OpenSolaris is dead

#49

Post by barlo »

moondowner wrote: post #23
motters wrote: post #14

Having never used OpenSolaris this is no hardship for me. However, it's looking like Oracle is a company that is quite hostile to open source, so this also raises concerns for what will happen to the likes of OpenOffice and VirtualBox. In general it also raises questions about the wisdom of open source developers assigning their copyrights over to a particular company, who may subsequently choose to betray their gene…

Don't forget NetBeans, the Rich Client Platform. Lots of applications are built on it (Light Analysis, Energy Consumption Management, Petroleum Engineering App, Swedish Trading Client & Swedish Defense Research App, Open Source Stock Trading Platform, Jewelry Customer Manager -- these are news only from the last 3-4 months), even NASA uses it. It's crucial for Oracle to sustain NetBeans development and not to favour…

Oracle uses NetBeans internally for the development of several applications (mostly from acquisitions), I don't believe you'll see that phased out anytime soon.

Re: OpenSolaris is dead

#50

Post by cookiecaper »

sprout wrote: post #28
cookiecaper wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem with "Don't be evil" is that it's subjective. Google isn't a hardcore idealist because people that refuse to cooperate unless all of their demands are met never really get anywhere (see RMS). Compromise is a fact of life for everyone. Principles shouldn't be compromised, and you have to draw the line, but you also have to cooperate with people who have a different perspective than yourself. I don't see ei…

>because people that refuse to cooperate unless all of their demands are met never really get anywhere (see RMS). RMS would be a clear counterexample. (See Linux, GNU utils, the recent GPLv3 release of Castle Wolfenstein, and many many other victories.) It's a curious sort of logic that says a hardline stance is ineffective because 100% of his goals aren't meant. Not that moderates don't also serve a purpose, but the…

I agree that radicals are important and that RMS particularly is useful because he pushes the dialogue forward and keeps new ideas on the table. It's a good goalpost.

But nobody takes RMS's advice as practical. It's just too extreme. Most people don't believe as RMS stated in his recent Reddit interview that the only way to ethically use a pacemaker or other life-saving device that relies on proprietary software would be to start developing an open-source replacement.

RMS has been somewhat successful, but I think much less than he would have been if he hadn't poured so many resources into the silly points that should have easily been let go, like "GNU/Linux".

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