Oracle and SUN Archive

Sun plans to ship 8-core and 6-core versions of the Niagara processor in single socket servers before year end, according to sources. The decision to produce 6-core parts came as Sun tried to make best use of chip yields from its partner TI. In addition, Sun can now offer a couple of different prices with the Niagara-based systems, pitching the 6-core gear as lower-end. Based on 1.0GHz and eventually 1.2GHz chips, a Niagara server will consume on average 250 watts - versus close to four times that amount for similarly performing Xeon-based four-way servers.

"The Sun Cobalt was open-sourced by Sun Microsystems at the end of its product lifecycle in December of 2003. OffMyServer, a provider of custom built servers and storage solutions, sponsored the porting of the Cobalt RaQ software to the FreeBSD operating system. The open source project, codenamed RAQdevil, is focused on providing an interactive community to encourage developers that are interested in working to improve the software."

Sun Microsystems, weighing in on the fractious issue of protecting copyrighted digital content, on Sunday announced a project it calls the Open Media Commons initiative aimed at creating an open-source, royalty-free digital-rights management standard.

It took 18 months for it to happen, but the hand of Bechtolsheim is about to touch Sun Microsystems. One of the more impressive features of the Becky Boxes is the way components can be replaced. Disk drives can be removed from the front of the system without pulling the box from the server rack and power supplies can be yanked from the back. Administrators can also remove fans by pulling the server only about 10 inches out of a rack. The system will ship in the same chassis as Sun's upcoming Niagara-based systems.

A British executive for Sun said on Friday that the release date for the company's StarOffice 8 suite would now be September 12, almost two months later than originally anticipated. The office productivity software sees wide use in the Linux community, and includes word processing and spreadsheet applications.

Xandros Business Edition provides a desktop environment, Xandros is easy to install and maintain. As an added bonus, Xandros Business Edition includes the full edition of CrossOver Office 4.2. That means that if there is a major Windows software package that you can't live without, chances are you will be able to install and run it on Xandros through CrossOver. Read the full review at NewsForge.

Sun Microsystems president and COO Jonathan Schwartz on Thursday cited the company's plans to eventually offer all of its software for free as a way to build communities around its technologies.

Technewsworld postulates that Gateway would be a prime takeover target for Sun Microsystems. Sun's competence on the desktop, they argue, would be greatly improved, as well as their ability to manage at an executive level.

Reports of the death of Sun Microsystems' Java Desktop System with Linux combination are exaggerated, says its chief software executive.

This article describes in detail what to expect from Sun when it comes to the SPARC platform. The 8-core Niagara chip, now planned for early 2006, is the most impressive: "In practical terms, what Niagara delivers is a chip that consumes about 56 watts that has about the same performance on infrastructure workloads as a four-way SMP rig of Xeon processors or a two-way setup using dual-core Xeons. These Xeon setups will consume hundreds of watts per processor."

Overall, Xandros Desktop OS Version 3 Business Edition has proven itself to be a fine operating system. As a long time Windows user, who is forced to use XP on a daily basis, I really appreciated Xandros' approach to Linux-Windows integration and just how easy they made the transition from one operating system to the other.

Now that IBM has finally agreed to support Solaris on the x86 hardware platform, Sun executives are hoping that this may be the catalyst for a range of other agreements. Top of the list is having IBM become the first top-tier OEM for Solaris, but IBM officials are pouring cold water on the idea.

Shortly after the introduction of the Ultra 20, Sun has introduced their first mobile workstation, the Ultra 3. The Ultra 3 mobile Workstation features an UltraSPARC IIi or IIIi processor (550-1200Mhz) and up to 2 GB of RAM.

Sun Microsystems is stepping away from an effort to sell the Linux operating system for desktop computers, the server and software company's top software executive said Tuesday.