Open-source details hold up Solaris release

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Solaris came from BSD and AIX too didn't it

I think Solaris came from a vendor standardisation initiative that included BSD/AIX etc, although I think it might have some ancestral System V in it.
The going open source could well be the deal that Sun did with SCO some months ago (some sort of perpetual deal). In any case, Solaris has been free to download in the past.
(free to download binaries mean there isn't a lot of SALEABLE value in the code).
Anyway good on Sun if they do this. Hope they use an existing open source licence and not make yet another one.
By the way, I'm adamant that the reason minix lost to (what I think is an inferior) linux is primarily the licence. Personally I think minix was, and is an amazing product, probably superior to early linux.

I don't think the famous argument between Andrew Tannenbaum and Linux Torvalds over OS architecture mattered a single bit. Personally I beleive that Torvalds won out because of the GPL.
Look at the most powerful software out there in open source: firefox, openoffice, KDE and so on. All GNU licences. The BSDs have moved on a bit now, but for a while they looked extremely antiqated compared to Linux. And I don't think there is any easy install version of BSD (apart from OSX of course).
To me this and more is undeniable proof that GPL software (over time) becomes the best software. The licence holds the power.

I'm far more likely to even bother to look at source code if it's GPL than any other licence.

Posted by: hipparchus2000   Posted on: 11/04/04 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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