OpenSolaris vs Linux

“We’re not interested in a direct, head-to-head comparison,
because for many people it’s largely a matter of taste which one
they choose. But we do want to help people see what makes
OpenSolaris a little different from Linux, so read on for our
quick-start guide for Linux users wanting to dip their toe into
OpenSolaris and see which they prefer…

“The source code to Solaris (well, most of it) was released to
the community in June 2005, and to make sure that it became a
usable home system rather than just a server OS, Sun hired Ian
Murdock, founder of the Debian project, to produce OpenSolaris. The
first release appeared in May 2008 and the distribution adopted an
approximately half-yearly release cycle: after OpenSolaris 2008.05
we got versions 2008.11 and 2009.06.

“Sun advertises its operating system as a full-blown
distribution, including the Gnome desktop. But is OpenSolaris
interesting enough for a Linux user? If you’re happy with your
favourite Linux distribution, why would you try OpenSolaris? In
some aspects it’s much like a regular Linux distribution, but in
other aspects it’s completely different. Do the exciting features
of this operating system outweigh the trouble of learning another
Unix environment with other tools?”

Complete
Story