“It’s not quite open-source software, but developers are about
to get access to Solaris without paying for it. Indeed, Sun
Microsystems Inc. plans to put all of its platform
software-including Solaris-under a Community Source License, the
company said this week. The license is likely to cover any Sun
software that is not specific to end users or vertical markets.
Community Source is a quasi-open source license that Sun
(Nasdaq:SUNW) announced in December for Jini, Java and its Java
Workshop development tool. In a reversal of its previous practice,
Sun will not collect money from developers until they ship binary
products based on Sun source code.”
“Community Source is forcing Sun to grapple with several tough
issues. The company is considering opening Sun Workshop, its new
64-bit Solaris development tool, but group marketing manager Jon
Williams points out that would also expose the guts of Sun’s SPARC
architecture. ‘It raises the question, what are our crown jewels?’
Williams says.”