High-end interview: What is the allure of open source Solaris?

Solaris is open source, both for sun and for the open source community, which is a blockbuster. For Sun, this is an open source for one of its three pillars, and the future development of Solaris is a concern. Similarly, people interested in Open-source software believe that open source Solaris may pose a threat to Linux. For a while, the debate about Solaris Open source continues. So why does Sun want to open up Solaris? In what way open source? What the S u n looks like about the future of Solaris, and what it does to Linux, is a concern for many Solaris users, ISVs (independent software developers), and Linux enthusiasts. To this end, this reporter interviewed The Sun company responsible for operating platform department vice president Glenn Weinberg and Sun company responsible for the software department of Vice President Tom Goguen Mr.

Q: What is Solaris authorized to open source? Q: Is the Solaris 10 source code all available? Q: How does Solaris change from private to open source, and how does it affect partners?

A: The ISV's response is positive and positive. Many ISVs are already using the Solaris 10 source program, which gives them a better understanding of Solaris 10, making it easier to develop their applications. On the other hand, the greater the installation of the operating system, the more advantageous it is for ISVs that are developing on it. Obviously, after Solaris 10 is open source, the number of people using Solaris will certainly increase significantly. There is a more interesting statistic to share with you: in the process of Solaris 10, which began to generate free and open source, Sun has acquired more than 50 ISVs.

Q: Will the development speed of the kernel be changed when Solaris 10 is open source?

A: The Solaris 10 is progressing very quickly and sun has a "Solaris 10 Express" activity that allows some users to try out before Solaris is officially released. When Sun was developing Solaris, it was very mindful of the forward compatibility of the operating system, for example, the Solaris 10 could run programs that were developed on older versions of Solaris 5 years ago or even 10 years ago, and those programs could automatically take advantage of the functionality provided by the new version, Without any modification to the old program. In contrast, Linux is not completely reverse compatible, when the Linux kernel changes, the original development of the application to take advantage of the new version of the new features, you need to rewrite the program.

From a technical update perspective, Solaris can be divided into two different versions: the version provided for the developer, and the mature version that actually enters the business. In fact, the Solaris Express activity is to a large extent targeted at developers. If you look at the kernal.org website, the commercial version of the company, Red Hat, Hongqi and so on, is very close to Solaris and is a new version of the 1?3 year.

The Solaris Express vehicle will provide a new version every 2 or 3 weeks. The program has been around for 18 months, and you've been using Solaris 10 and feedback, which eventually forms the mature, commercial version of Solaris 10. How much is this feedback? Within 18 months, there are 750,000 trial downloads on the web.

Q: Who is hosting the control of the Solaris version after open source?

A: From the perspective of Linux openness, there seem to be hundreds of people who can contribute to Linux, but in fact there are only a small number of people who really can determine the core of Linux. In contrast, Sun's Solaris authoring environment is not determined by a small group of people, a smaller team, to determine the core of Solaris. In the Solaris development process, many developers have informed the management team of new changes and new features, and if the changes are reasonable, the management team will feed back to the advocates, who will add the new features to the program. The team simply examines whether the recommendations are reasonable, rather than modifying them to add kernel functionality. Therefore, this model is a very scalable model that can naturally transition to a wider, broader community behavior. At the same time, Sun did not want to qualify Solaris 10 in full accordance with its own will. Although we think that Solaris already has a very scalable model, Sun still wants to hear the views of the parties and set up an association to better promote Solaris.

Q: When Sun raised the direction of Solaris opening, some users raised security concerns. They argue that closed systems have fewer people and fewer people to know, and are therefore relatively safe. Will Solaris add to the security burden of sun after it is open source? Q: There is a view that Solaris is a large system and that few people have the ability to reach the core of Solaris, and that the Open-source Community's contribution to Solaris will be very limited, More people will be able to support relatively simple Linux systems. Do you have any comment on this statement?

A: For a large enterprise, the operating system needs to have a certain degree of complexity, not too simple. Also, from the operating system's kernel point of view, I don't think Linux is much less complex than Solaris. Sun set up a new open source Solaris community not to squeeze out the Linux community, nor to dig the corner of the Linux community, but to provide a new option for those who are unwilling to use Linux for some reason. For example, someone might not like the GPL licensing model, someone not satisfied with the functionality provided by Linux, some people think that the Linux model does not conform to their own business purposes and so on.

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