OpenSolaris, Still Open-Source Software Ready to Serve

“If Oracle’s recent Solaris licensing changes have you singing
the blues, OpenSolaris might provide you with a fresh tune to
whistle while you work. Last week, the Internet was abuzz with the
news that Oracle stopped giving away the Solaris operating system
and has now limited the free trial period to 90 days. Now, you must
purchase a full license to continue to use the software, per this
license excerpt:

“Please remember, your right to use Solaris acquired as a
download is limited to a trial of 90 days, unless you acquire a
service contract for the downloaded Software. If you’re an
enterprise user, this change might not affect you. The affected
population consists of new adopters, some legacy Solaris users,
developers and a few rogue users.

“Even if you aren’t in one of these affected groups, why not
make the switch to OpenSolaris or at least investigate it further?
It has all of the Solaris goodness (ZFS, Zones, SVM, and
hypervisor-based virtualization) without the licensing restrictions
or price of the commercial Solaris offering.

“OpenSolaris has much to offer the casual user, the mobile user
and the data center. Exploring its extensive list of enterprise
features might convince you to rethink its use in your data
center.”

Complete Story