Linked by Thom Holwerda on Mon 7th Jun 2010 10:15 UTC, submitted by kragil
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RE[4]: Who can help me understand the problem?
by Moochman on Wed 9th Jun 2010 20:51
in reply to "RE[3]: Who can help me understand the problem?"
There is also problem with developer community... or lack there of. How many of OpenSolaris fans do serious kernel development? All kernel developers are at Oracle. If Larry moves them to proprietary Solaris version, OpenSolaris is toast. There is nobody to pick up development. 2009.6 will stay available, but how long will people use that? Oracle already discontinued paid support for OpenSolaris, there is now only proprietary Solaris 10 on their agenda. Or should I say SoLarry's.
I am usually one of the most skeptical people around when it comes to big businesses, but in this case I think you're being irrationally paranoid. First off, Oralce eliminating paid support for OpenSolaris was a perfectly reasonable strategic move that as far as I can tell has no bearing on whether OpenSolaris will be developed further. Larry Ellison may be ruthless, but he is also smart. And the thing is, there is simply no benefit to be had by closing down OpenSolaris. Just think of OpenSolaris as their Fedora and Solaris as their Red Hat. It's a fine business model that they really have no need to mess with.
Keep in mind also that Oracle has been one of the biggest open-source contributors when it comes to Java technology in the past decade. Just because they sell a lot of proprietary software as well does not mean they are averse to open-source stuff. Ex-Sun-supporters like yourself need to stop being overly paranoid and hyperventilating and have a little faith that Ellison is not going to ruin everything.
RE[4]: Who can help me understand the problem?
by Burana on Thu 10th Jun 2010 12:53
in reply to "RE[3]: Who can help me understand the problem?"
RE[5]: Who can help me understand the problem?
by Kebabbert on Fri 11th Jun 2010 07:17
in reply to "RE[4]: Who can help me understand the problem?"
That is true. OpenSolaris FUD is everywhere. OpenSolaris is the basis for Solaris 11. If OpenSolaris is killed, how will Oracle deliver Solaris 11? Everyone agrees that Solaris 11 will be delivered, how is that possible if all OpenSolaris code is scrapped? Some people dont think at all, or they are just plain FUDers.




Member since:
2010-05-06
They can't scrap CDDL'd code, but they probably wont opensource parts which are closed now, like SCC, Xsun, fishworks and such.
OpenSolaris is not selfhosting, you can't compile it without some proprietary libraries and there is some of "valued add" (or better say: Freedom subtract) parts, like mentioned fishworks.
Sun had plans to opensource that, and they also had plans to fix CDDL and remove choice of law clause in v2, making it acceptable license (look video for details). Oracle probably wont bother.
There is also problem with developer community... or lack there of. How many of OpenSolaris fans do serious kernel development? All kernel developers are at Oracle. If Larry moves them to proprietary Solaris version, OpenSolaris is toast. There is nobody to pick up development. 2009.6 will stay available, but how long will people use that? Oracle already discontinued paid support for OpenSolaris, there is now only proprietary Solaris 10 on their agenda. Or should I say SoLarry's.
I really liked Sun, but they really screwed with OpenSolaris licensing. If they used GPLv3, they would still be incompatible with Linux in start, but they would look good and see developers coming into their community and no Larry Elison could kill OpenSolaris. This way, OpenSolaris will be abandonware.
To all GPL bashers: That is what happen when you use GPL-incompatible license on purpose.