Solaris Archive

SUN Changes Entry-Level Server Dynamics with Solaris 9 x86

Sun Microsystems, Inc. today delivered on its redoubled commitment to the UNIX platform, extending the full benefits of the Solaris Operating System, to x86-based servers with the Solaris 9 x86 Platform Edition. Non-commercial usage is available at no charge, while commercial pricing starts at US $99; attractive OEM pricing is also available. Source code for Solaris will now be available.

Sneak Peek: Second Update to Solaris 9

We spoke with Bill Moffitt, Product Line Manager for Solaris at Sun Microsystems. The second update to Solaris, called Solaris 9 12/02, was released this month. (Sun puts the month and year of the release date after the version number. Apparently, it was "released" in December, but don't ask why it was only made available a few days ago). In addition to bug fixes and updates that you would expect in a release like this, Sun has included a couple of big extras for capability and performance.

Sun to Ship non-SMP x86 Solaris 9 for $99 USD

Sun on Friday will announce plans to release an unbundled version of the Solaris 9 operating environment for non-Sun x86 hardware for $99 for a single CPU system. After months of indecision, Sun will now ship Solaris 9 x86, unbundled, supporting both the Sun hardware platform, for both current and future products, as well as the same list of all hardware supported for Solaris 8, according to Sun officials in Palo Alto, Calif. Early access to the Solaris 9 bits will come in the next four to eight weeks, and the final product will ship in the January time-frame, they said.

Disgruntled Solaris x86 Users Turn Up Heat on Sun

Sun Microsystems Inc.'s refusal to release Solaris 9 for non-Sun x86 hardware could backfire and drive developers and users to Linux or even Microsoft Corp. platforms, users said. Disgruntled x86 community developers and customers charge that Sun's refusal to reach a compromise is effectively making their investments in non-Sun x86 hardware obsolete. Supporters are so irked by Sun's intransigence that last week they placed an open letter in The Mercury News, of San Jose, Calif., accusing Sun Chairman, President and CEO Scott McNealy of taking the developer community for granted.

Sun Shows Linux Server, Solaris 9 on Intel

Sun Microsystems made two strategic moves Monday to answer calls from its user base, by announcing the company's first general-purpose server to run Linux and bringing back a version of its Solaris operating system that runs on Intel chips. From September, Sun will offer Solaris x86 8.0, alongside Linux on its new 'Big Bear' Intel hardware that it will announce this morning in San Francisco. And from early next year, Solaris 9.0 for Intel will be an option, too. Read the news at InfoWorld and TheRegister. Our Take: It seems that the SecretSix team made it! x86 Solaris 9 is back!

Sun Touts Road Map to Solaris 10

"Sun officials on Friday offered a sneak peak into its Solaris OS plans, touting incremental improvements in areas such as resource management expected to reach users' systems within a year. Having just shipped Version 9 of Solaris in May, company officials speaking at Sun's San Francisco office touted features in the newly released OS and future plans. The next major release of the OS, Solaris 10, is expected in 2004 or 2005." Read the report at InfoWorld.

A Last Chance for the x86 Solaris

"Sun will use the LinuxWorld venue here to discuss its second change of heart -- the resurrection of Solaris for the Intel architecture, sources said. Internal friction within Sun still could prevent Solaris from returning to the Intel platform. Sun has moved its Solaris and Linux efforts under the supervision of Anil Gadre, former vice president of Solaris and now vice president of marketing and operations for software at Sun, combining the OS teams for the first time, sources said." Read the report at InfoWorld.

Sun Feels Heat Over x86 Solaris

"Disgruntled Solaris users are pushing Sun Microsystems Inc. to decide on the fate of the operating environment on Intel Corp. processors. Sun officials in Palo Alto, Calif., have been going back and forth with the Solaris Intel user base since January, when the company said Version 9 for the x86 architecture was being "deferred" in favor of projects that were more profitable. Now the process seems stuck, and users are getting restless, according to sources familiar with the negotiations between the user community and Anil Gadre, Sun's vice president of Solaris software." Read the report at ExtremeTech.

Sun to Reprieve Solaris 9 for Intel?

"Solaris 9 for Intel could be poised to ship after all, Register spies at Sun suggest. The official line is currently that Sun is shipping Solaris 9 for Sparc, but that "Sun is deferring the productization and release of the Solaris 9 OE for Intel IA-32." In English this means that Sun has (probably) more or less finished it but is hesitating as to whether or not to ship it, while in ITspeak this sort of phrasing generally means that the product is headed for a lingering death in the netherworld." The story is at TheRegister.