Oracle and SUN Archive

Sun Microsystems has raised the possibility that it might offer customers its own database, a move that could trigger displeasure at Oracle but curry favor with open-source advocates.

In an effort to further commoditize computing, Sun is now selling computing and storage utilities, modeled after other "grids" like electrical, water, and oil distribution. Instead of paying by the kilowatt-hour or gallon/litre, customers pay by the CPU-hour or the gigabyte-month. In a way, this is a natural extention of other hosting services, such as web hosting, except that general computational workloads are supported on many processors.

Sun today announced the largest single release of patent innovations into the open source community by any organization to date, marking a significant shift in the way Sun positions its intellectual property portfolio. By giving open source developers free access to Sun OpenSolaris related patents under the Common Development and Distribution License (CDDL), the company is fostering open innovation and establishing a leadership role in the framework of a patent commons.

In an open letter to IBM's CEO, Sun president Jonathan Schwartz accuses IBM of ignoring customers' requests on supporting Solaris on x86. He says the customers are "feeling that your withholding support is part of a vendor lock-in strategy."

LXer reports that Sun has made an evaluation copy of their Java Desktop System 2 available for download. Ever faithful, OSDir provides screenshot zen.

Xandros believes in the latter and their polished look and graphic install make it all the easier for the new user to make the transition to Linux. Read the rest of the review here.

"Xandros Linux is among a handful of Linux distributions truly worthy of naming a desktop Linux distribution. Today, there are many distributions out there calling themselves desktop operating systems, and even though most of them are very good attempts, many fall short... but not Xandros." Read the rest of the review here.

Sun Microsystems is focusing on Opterons and Solaris x86 for a good reason. Sun has figured out a way to make x86 hardware cheaper than anyone else. Sun is hoping that by leveraging its cost advantages the company will be able to ensure the success of its x86 hardware and Solaris.

According to at least one company, in order for Sun to gain credibility in the Linux market, they must acquire either Red Hat or Novell. Merrill Lynch hypothesizes that with one of these companies as an asset, the Opteron market is theirs for the taking, and without one, they are doomed to cater to mostly Solaris customers.

This article looks at the impressive new features in Solaris 10 and also some flaws that prevent it from being perfect. Elsewhere, you can find 113 screenshots of the upcoming Solaris 10, Java Desktop 3 and CDE environments. (Caution: 130+ screenshots on page)

"There's quite a bit of value here for anyone and we feel very comfortable recommending it to anyone who wants to move off of Windows and onto Linux. It's stable, easy to use, and comes with a good range of applications. Laptop wireless problem aside, in terms of ease of use, we think that Xandros has set a new standard for Linux distributions." Read the review at ExtremeTech.

Xandros Desktop Version 3 features the latest in Linux Wireless & VPN Support, Security, and Drag-and-Drop DVD Burning. Read for more.

Linus Torvalds has some interesting comments on Sun's CDDL License which has been submitted to OSI's approval.

What are you looking for in a Linux distro? Ease of Installation? Great looking Desktop? Ability to download more apps as needed? Ability to run select Windows apps right on your Linux desktop? Read the review here.