Oracle and SUN Archive

Sun Microsystems Inc has maintained that it will be developing its own extensions to the Linux operating system after confirming suggestions that its recently released Sun Linux 5.0 distribution is based almost entirely on Red Hat Inc's Linux 7.2, writes Matthew Aslett. You can also read an interview with Sun Microsystems Chief Executive Scott McNealy.

Xandros announced today the release date for its first-generation Linux desktop product, Xandros Desktop 1.0. The product, due to be released on September 30, 2002 and available for purchase within three weeks after that date, is built upon Linux kernel 2.4.19, XFree86 4.2, Debian 3.0, Corel LINUX 3.0, and enhanced KDE. It features the Xandros Install Express, Xandros File Manager, and extensive configuration panels and wizards. Xandros Desktop 1.0 also includes Xandros Networks - an application that enables users to obtain feature enhancements, bug fixes, and the latest Xandros news via a single mouse click. Read the rest of the press release here. Our two previous interviews with Xandros VP Michael Bego, filled with more information, can be found here and here.

" Siress gave an interview in which he announced that Apple and Sun were collaborating on a version of Star Office for OSX, and the OpenOffice.org folks freaked. (Apple probably freaked, too, though they haven't said much publicly about this whole thing). So, Sun has to do an about face and retract its prior statements. The easiest route is to try and discredit the CNET article, but since the article accurately reflects a taped interview with a senior PR person they can't really ask CNET for a retraction." The latest in the StarOffice/OSX PR opera.

DesktopLinux interviews Xandros president Michael Bego and Dr. Frederick Berenstein, co-chairman of Linux Global Partners (the financial backer of Xandros), regarding the current state of Xandros as a company and on their plans to roll out the first release of Xandros Linux this Fall. Bego gives details about the distribution that includes "a spectacular office suite" and discusses Xandros' corporate goal "to be among the first crop of profitable Linux companies".

Apple Computer and Sun Microsystems are cooperating on a version of Sun's StarOffice productivity software for Mac OS X, the companies said. Apple gains a friend to help counter its increasingly contentious relationship with Microsoft, which has been struggling with sales of its Office v. X suite for Macintosh. Currently, OpenOffice only runs with the aid of X11, but a native OSX version based on Java is under way, with Apple, Inc. developers giving a hand for the port. Update: Corey O'Connor emailed us regarding the Java and C/C++ parts of Star Office on OSX:

"Sun Microsystems will announce on Wednesday a free software initiative aimed at undercutting Microsoft and other rivals in the battle over Web services software. Sun plans to give away a basic version of its application server software, a key piece of infrastructure software for building business applications. Application server software is technology that runs e-business and other Web site transactions. The giveaway targets computers that run Microsoft's Windows, Linux and Unix operating systems, Sun said." The story is at ZDNews. Our Take: Why does that reminds me Microsoft and their giveaway of IE back in the day, in order to win over Netscape? Microsoft ended up in the courts for it...

Solaris 8 - Administrator's Guide is a book written by Paul Watters, and published by O'Reilly. The book is all about how to create and administer networks using Solaris 8. The book, published in January, is current even for Solaris 9, mostly because not many changes to the way Solaris works have been made in the new version of the OS.

Sun Microsystems on Monday said it has reorganized and re-branded its disparate software lines and put them all under the Sun ONE umbrella. By re-branding its software, Sun hopes to better explain, and hence sell, its software to large corporate customers. As a result, the iPlanet Web Server, software for running large Web servers, will be rechristened the Sun ONE Web server, while the Chilisoft ASP will go by the name Sun ONE Active Server Pages. Our Take: As you can see, Sun is going full speed with Sun ONE, which is pretty much a similar range of products and strategy as Microsoft's .NET. A lot of people in our forums have dismissed the whole idea of .NET (most without knowing what .NET and ONE really are), but the bottomline is that it makes sense on how the future of computing is going to look like. If it won't be Microsoft and its .NET, it will be Sun and ONE. Bottomline is that you can't get away from this "new way of doing things." Exactly as we said in the last paragraph of our .NET editorial two months ago. Update: Java and .NET battle for the web's future.

Sun Microsystems announced it has filed a private antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft Corporation. The suit, filed March 8, 2002 in the United States District Court in San Jose, CA., seeks remedies for the harm inflicted by Microsoft's anticompetitive behavior with respect to the Java platform and for damages resulting from Microsoft's illegal efforts to maintain and expand its monopoly power. In June 2001, the Federal Court of Appeals found Microsoft guilty of illegally abusing its monopoly power with respect to Sun and the Java platform. Sun's suit seeks to redress the competitive and economic harm caused by Microsoft's illegal acts. Read more on ZDNews.

According to a heise article, free versions of Star Office will now only be available to Solaris users. Free versions for Linux and Windows users will no longer be offered. However, Mark McLoughlin of Sun mailed the gnome-hackers mailing-list announcing the deal between Sun, Ximian and Wipro. The deal means that Wipro will assign up to 50 people to work on GNOME including hackers, QA people, documenters and more.

From the press release: "Sun Microsystems has embraced the Linux operating system, rolling out a multipart program that will significantly broaden the offerings of Linux on low-end Sun servers and commit new resources to the ongoing development of the Open Source operating system." Our Take: I am very concerned as to what this may mean for Solaris. Was this the real reason behind the Sun decision to drop support for the x86 Solaris? Did Sun took marketing/strategy lessons from IBM regarding Linux and its accompanied hype? Because technically speaking, Solaris is a far more advanced server operating system (in its core) than Linux is.

"Like dueling superpowers, Sun Microsystems and Microsoft appear to be facing two choices in promoting their respective Web security initiatives: detente or a state of constant conflict. Sun CEO Scott McNealy on Thursday renewed his push for the Liberty Alliance Project, a multi-company attempt to counter Microsoft's Passport identity-authentication system. In a keynote address at the Oracle OpenWorld conference in San Francisco, McNealy trumpeted the recent addition of major partners to the alliance." Read the rest of the story at ZDNews.