The Linux desktop has come a long way. It's a fully usable, stable, and secure operating system that can be used quite easily by the masses. Not too long ago, Sun figured they could do the same by starting Project Indiana, which is supposed to deliver a complete distribution of OpenSolaris in a manner similar to GNU/Linux. After using the latest version for a while, I'm wondering: why?
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Member since:2009-06-02
The match for enterprise linux would be Solaris 10, not OpenSolaris which is according to Sun aimed at developers, students or early adopters.
Yes I could, and I can keep running a supported Linux distro as well. The subject of this article was however more like comparing OpenSoaris to Linux distributions.
As a *Desktop user*, are you really that worried about needing all of these security updates?
Yes I am. It's not only about what vulnerabilities already exist. Imagine a flaw in the SunSSH client or a low level library like libjpeg, poppler etc.
Then I wonder how you did that without upgrading the whole system to /dev or buying access to the /support repository.
IMHO OpenSolaris is technically superior to Linux, the lack of a maintained free release make it an unsuitable choice for their target group.
Member since:2006-09-20
First, thanks for the no-flames and logical response. I see your point about library problems.
That said, is using /dev really so different than just using Fedora Linux (aside from the fact that Fedora probably has way more people working on packages than Solaris does)?
I am using /dev, and I have been since before 2009.06 came out. I haven't had any problems related to this. Its a little more bleeding edge than OpenSolaris release, but not much - I think the margine of difference is probably small compared to that of OpenSolaris releases and Solaris 10. And with BE's, its very easy to switch to a previous version should I wish to.
Edited 2009-07-22 17:25 UTC
Member since:2006-09-20
Download updated firefox here:
http://opensolaris.org/os/community/desktop/communities/mozilla/dev...
Member since:
2006-09-20
It isn't pathetic - I think you'll see the same things with Redhat enterprise linux, etc.
If you really want free security updates, then you could try nexenta - though I don't have much experience with it.
Really amazing what people can complain about in such an extreme way...
As a *Desktop user*, are you really that worried about needing all of these security updates? The one exception is probably Firefox, and I had no trouble updating it through IPS to the latest version.
Also, from what I've seen, btrfs will give you about the same functionality as ZFS - each fs may have slight performance gains in some areas over the other. I'd like to know how it will wipe the floor with it though