Please don't degrade the conversation with offensive name calling, I understand your perspective but calling people "bastards" is an immature way of discussing an issue.
IMHO Solaris 10 is not competing with generic linux but with commercial Linuxes like Suse or Red Hat...they do not offer free patches to my knowledge either. I believe it is fair that they expect some sort of payment for these updates but I fear they will lock out private users with the huge expense of support contracts (aka I wont pay ~$500 a year for patches to my home laptop). On Sat, Feb 13, 2010 at 03:00, Ken Gunderson <[email protected]> wrote: > > On Fri, 2010-02-12 at 10:05 -0500, Dennis Clarke wrote: > > OpenSolaris/Solaris friends : > > > > This ( see below ) is from a thread on the PCA patch tool maillist this > > morning. I made a few replies to Martin and there may be some upset by > > Sun/Oracle customers over this silent change. > > > > I'm fine with a fee. It would be nice if paying customers had known that > > their new contracts were about to be terminated. Certainly people such as > > myself that purchase support in January of each year. > > > > You can see the text below and hopefully this is a transition phase > issue. > > > > If anyone knows, it would be nice if some light were shed on the topic. > > > > Dennis > > > > ---------------------------- Original Message > ---------------------------- > > Subject: Re: [pca] No more free patches > > From: "Dennis Clarke" <[email protected]> > > Date: Fri, February 12, 2010 10:01 > > To: "PCA (Patch Check Advanced) Discussion" <[email protected] > > > > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > > > > > > Hi, > > > > > > Get ready for some bad news: According to my sources there will be no > > > more free access to any Solaris patch, be it security or not. A support > > > contract will be required for every patch download, no matter whether > > > it's done interactively through the website or hands-off with wget/pca. > > > I've been told that this policy change won't by publically announced by > > > Oracle, but it's described in this SunSolve document: > > > > > > #203648: Software Update Entitlement Policy for Solaris > > > http://sunsolve.sun.com/search/document.do?assetkey=1-61-203648-1 > > > > > > It already seems to be in effect. I tried to download various recent > > > security patches and access is denied to any of them. > > > > > > Sooner or later access to patchdiag.xref and all other content > currently > > > on SunSolve will be limited to paying customers as well. > > > > > > No opinion, but a few thoughts: > > > > > > Using an operating system where the only way to fix security problems > is > > > waiting for the next version is a no-go, so the minimum cost for > running > > > Solaris on a real-world system is now that of a basic service plan > (324$ > > > and up per year). > > > > I am fine with a support contract fee on my servers. That is just > business > > and everyone would expect a small fee for service. > > > > Software is free. Service is not. > > > > "Software is Free, Service is Not: The Dawn of Service Networks" written > > by ex-Oracle executives and co-founders of OpenWater - Mike Rocha and Tim > > Chou. > > > > See > > > http://www.anshublog.com/2007/05/new-meme-software-is-free-service-is.html > > > > I have that book and I agree with its basic premise. Simply put, no > > organization can support an operating system, application stack or any > > software product for free. Period. > > > > > Sun didn't make enough money, so it's obvious that Oracle handles > things > > > differently. Whether this is a wise decision is left to the future. The > > > fact that there's no public announcement reveals a lot. > > > > That bothers me. Given that I bought new contracts within the last 30 > days. > > > > > There should be a much simpler way to get basic patch support (think > > > about a PayPal button at the end of the OS installation to get the > > > idea). And it definitely should cost less than the service plans. > > > Personally, I'd prefer a one-time fee for the OS (which should be > > > included in the price of a server when bought from Sun). > > > > That would be retrograde motion back to the days of the RTU license fee > on > > the Sparc servers. I doubt you can do such a thing with x86 servers or > > machines based on a free download. > > This will be the undoing of Solaris. One reason Sun got into such bad > shape was because they were far, far to late in accepting the reality of > the _competition_ from the FOSS world. CompSCI majors were using either > MS because of it's ubiquity or Linux because of it's technical > superiority and free availability. Hence, Solaris slipped slowly but > surely into irrelevance in all but the financial services sector. I > know CompSCI grads from the local U, for example, that had never even > _heard_ of Sun Microsystems, before I pointed them to Open/Solaris. > > Open sourcing Solaris and making Solaris 10 freely available was > starting to change this. But it happened too slowly and meanwhile the > economy crashed, Sun got swallowed by Oracle, and now Solaris as an > option for users who cannot afford expensive maintenance contracts just > to get security updates is history. You think $350 a years is cheap? > Ask small businesses hammered by the economic meltdown about their bail > out checks. Ask people living in places like S. Africa. > > Moreover, not providing free Security patches is pure stupidity. Watch > the increase in Solaris incursion reports sky rocket over coming months > at the security sites in coming months. Solaris's reputation will be > severely tarnished. > > But then I guess such was to be expected from a bunch of greedy > bastards. > > -- > Ken Gunderson <[email protected]> > > _______________________________________________ > opensolaris-discuss mailing list > [email protected] >
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