Gary Bainbridge wrote:
If I wanted to run a GNU/Linux distribution I would, but apparently the
decision is being made for those who like Solaris, to be made to run another
Linux-type server.
As it has been said /repeatedly/ here, OpenSolaris is NOT a GNU OS clone
- go over to Nexenta and take a good long look at the (rather severe)
differences between it and OpenSolaris. Yes, there have been some
features from the Linux world that have been adopted in OpenSolaris, but
the old ways remain. And, progress moves on. I'm actually happy with
abandoning SVR4 packaging, even though IPS needs some work. Dumping CDE
has been a long-time coming. And, people have been bitching for YEARS
about Solaris not having "standard" GNU tools available as part of the OS.
Seriously, how long (how many years) and how much money is it going to take to make OpenSolaris a replacement for Solaris 10? Is Oracle going to spend that much money?
Oh, how people [conveniently] forget....
OpenSolaris has been available for just over 2 years now. That's it.
SXDE a little longer. So, in the grand scheme of things where a typical
release has been on the order of 3-5 years total, we're about half-way.
How many years between S8 and S9?
Also, not to forget, that a fair number of the "interesting" features
from OpenSolaris have been back-ported to Solaris 10, so it's not like
there's been an enormous stagnation even in the current "enterprise"
release of Solaris. How many other UNIX/Linux OSes do what Sun has been
doing to S10? Oh, NONE, that's right.
To make a desktop OS work as a data center OS is not remotely the best
engineering practice. Could you run Solaris 8 on a desktop? Sure. But why?
It wasn't practical. Could you use Windows 95 as a server? Probably many did.
But why? That wasn't its intended use.
That's a horrible argument. The foundations of OpenSolaris and SXDE
are identical. Essentially, you're arguing that Ubuntu Desktop and
Ubuntu Server couldn't possibly have come from the same codebase, and
the effort to produce one from the other is doomed to failure.
Now the OS is going to be retrofitted to make it an enterprise server? With
Solaris you can choose what you want to install. Not so with OpenSolaris. You
get what you're told.
Oh, please. Go read Shawn's reply to this thread.
I'm probably old school, however, the barrier to adoption is probably right,
but with those installers like RHEL and SuSE have, everything is going
web-based and you need Java installed to open a console. Give me a Putty
session and connect me via ALOM and I'm ready to go with my Jumpstart server!
'boot net - install' and off and running.
Interactive installers are almost inevitably going to be a GUI of some
kind, given that the overriding desire when using a interactive
installer is Flexibility. As the cost of maintaining 2 different
interactive installers is non-trivial, it's a valid assumption that
those normally interested in a text installer would be equally well
served by some form of automated install (AI/Jumpstart/et al). After
all, text installers are heavily (if not exclusively) used by Enterprise
folks, and it's a valid assumption that an enterprise will have
automated install servers set up. AI still definitely need some work,
so I'm not going to stand here and claim OpenSolaris has a
ready-for-prime-time text/enterprise install solution, but it's
certainly on the radar and under active development. AI will provide
the exact same experience of "boot net - install" you crave. In fact,
it kinda (though not completely) already does.
-----
I've always viewed the EOL of the SXDE stuff as the point-in-time where
development for OpenSolaris/Solaris Next takes a turn from focusing on
"early-adopter" focus (i.e. features which try to bring in new users),
and moves towards stabilizing existing features and fixing
enterprise-service functionality holes.
Honestly, I'd assume there are about 2 years more work to go into
OpenSolaris before Solaris Next emerges. Not that I have any
extra-sensory powers here (or inside info).
Also, people, please don't forget that Solaris Next != OpenSolaris. I
like to think of the relationship as with Ubuntu's Desktop and Server
flavors - built on the same foundation, but with different
customizations, depending on their target audience. With the ending of
SXDE, the dev tree for Solaris Next and OpenSolaris is currently the
same, but at some point in the not-so-distant-future, they'll re-fork again.
--
Erik Trimble
Java System Support
Mailstop: usca22-123
Phone: x17195
Santa Clara, CA
Timezone: US/Pacific (GMT-0800)
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