Linux Journal: Solaris Free-for-All

“Sun Microsystems, Inc., in an apparent bid to fend of
challenges from the left (Linux) and the right (Windows 2000), has
elected to take one small step toward both open source and the
philosophy of free software by offering Solaris 8 for the low, low
cost of $75, according to early reports from CNET and others.
Solaris 8 is slated to be unveiled today in New York City, where
there is also a suspicion that the source code for Solaris 8 will
also be revealed….”

“Additionally, versions of Solaris 8 available later in the year
are expected to pull a page from the Linux text of late:
clustering. Clustering servers allows for workload-sharing and
works as an on-the-fly backup in case any given server in the
cluster breaks down. While Linux servers are not the only ones to
take advantage of clustering (Windows NT works with two machines
and Windows 2000 will reportedly cluster up to four), the fact that
the rise of Linux came as clustering techniques were being refined
has certainly helped up the ante for those in a server marketplace
that has become considerably more competitive with the arrival of
Linux.”

“Solaris 8 represents not only Sun Microsystems’ latest
defense of its Internet server turf, but also an attempt to pluck
some of the most central tenets of the Linux phenomenon for its own
ends. While Sun Microsystems’ president Ed Zander has been
quoted as saying that Sun will never replace its Solaris OS with
Linux–occasionally going so far as to suggest that many companies
are chasing after Linux with the same simplistic devotion that they
showed in wooing Windows in years past–it is clear that Sun
Microsystems has learned that, at least to some degree, if you
can’t beat them, steal a few pages from their playbook.”

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