> > 2. OpenSolaris is not intended to be used as a > toy, > > Where did I say that it was a "Toy"? > > Just because you take this way to seriously doesn't > mean that it applies to all of us. > > alan
Would it be cool? Possibly. Useful? Given free VirtualBox, not so much; indeed, VirtualBox could probably do some things (even to run Linux on Windows say) that CoLinux AFAIK doesn't, like selectively hand USB devices to the guest OS. The only advantages I can think of are (a) one less thing to install, and (b) on a system that's tight for RAM or disk, some savings there. The disadvantages are (at least) that it (a) takes time away from making Solaris better for more "normal" uses and (b) both OSs (Windows and the hypothetical CoSolaris) would be less stable, since they'd be sharing ring 0 on the box, and any bug in either could clobber both. And besides, VirtualBox is easy to install, and a system that was tight for RAM or disk should probably not be running Solaris anyway (there's a lot more experience around stripping Linux to the bare bones). So whatever the advantages, it seems to me that they're minimal. Now, if you think the coolness outweighs the dubious practicality, feel free to implement it yourself; it _may_ not even be as difficult as I suspect, since OpenSolaris was already paravirtualized for xen; in a way, CoLinux sounds like a maximally extreme case of paravirtualization. But don't expect a bunch of people to agree that it would be cool to the point that they ought to spend their time or money to do it, even if some of them might find it interesting (in about the same sense that a fairly sophisticated classroom exercise can be said to be interesting). As it is, there are almost certainly more higher priorities (than that) than there are man-hours to get them done. So good luck, let us know how it goes. If you're really good, I figure we'll hear from you in a year or so...maybe less if you've got lots of time on your hands. Otherwise, it's been a hoot to toss the idea around, but there's plenty of that going around... -- This message posted from opensolaris.org
