InfoWorld: Sun Ponders Offering Open-Source Solaris

“Sun Microsystems is pondering whether or not to offer Solaris
code in an open-source format to boost deployment of the operating
system on Intel hardware, but questions remain about the
effectiveness of open source, a Sun official said this week.

“The company is looking at allowing users to access Solaris in
an open-source format, noting that the recent early release program
for Solaris 9 on the Intel x86 platform has generated about 1.4
million downloads for the $20 offering, said Jonathan Schwartz, Sun
executive vice president for software. Schwartz spoke during an
interview Tuesday evening prior to a private Sun-sponsored
screening of the film ‘Solaris’ in San Francisco.

“‘The question is, if we open source it, do we double that?’
Schwartz said. ‘What does it do to the [Solaris] adoption
rates…?'”

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