Sun Considers GPL'd Solaris
Could a GPL'd Open Solaris restore Sun's flagship OS to UNIX Dominance?
Sun Microsystems has been pushing its way into the open source space by opening up its key technologies under open licenses such as its own CDDL (Common Development and Distribution License) and, more rencently, the GPL (GNU General Public License). In mid-2005, Sun created Open Solaris, primarily as a repository for Solaris code it intended to open source. To date, Open Solaris has generated a fair amount of press but hasn't really garnered much communitry interest partially due to Sun's use of the restrictive CDDL. Sun, which had been promising to open source its Java software, hit the world with a suprise this past November when it annouced that it would be releasing Java under the GPL version 2. To date, Sun had never released software under any open license other than its own CDDL. Java's release under the GPL raised questions about the potential for Sun to do the same for the Solaris operating system.
The GPL, regarded by the open source community as the holy grail of open source licenses, is the same license used by Linux, the flagship of the open source movement. When Sun announced the release of Java under the GPL, it secured acceptance with the open source faithful. Java's distribution previously required agreement to a binary license that hindered Linux vendor's ability to ship Java as a component of their distributions. Sun's move to the GPL immediately made Java a viable alternative to PHP, Perl, and Python, the primary development languages used to create open source software. Could the GPL spark the same interest in Open Solaris or is a move to GPL Solaris too little, too late?
Although Solaris is still the operating system of choice for enterprises running systems on Sun's SPARC architecture, the industry's direction has been shifting towards server deployments running x86 or x86_64 Intel and AMD chips. For Open Solaris to succeed, Sun needs to play in the x86 market currently dominated by Windows and Linux. Unfortunately, Sun spent most of the past decade boasting about the superiority of the SPARC architecture rather than directly addressing the rising competiton from the improving Intel and AMD camps. During the same period, open source momentum around Linux drove software developers, enthusiasts and enterprises alike to make Linux the preferred Unix-like OS on the x86 and x86_64 processor lines. To compete, Sun has to play catch up. With the relesae of Solaris 10, Sun committed itself to support for the x86 archetecture, however, Solaris supports only a fraction of the hardware that currently runs under Linux and Windows. If Sun were to GPL Solaris, it would immediately open up the opportunity for a comingling of code between Linux and Solaris, allowing Sun to pick up hardware support from community developed Linux drivers for free, literally.
However, lack of hardware support isn't the only hinderace to a Solaris resurgence. Linux's rapid adoption and growth in popularity hasn't gone unnoticed by ISVs (independent software vendors). Commerical software vendors that once developed products primarily for Solaris and Windows are now capitalizing on the OSS momentum and swapping Solaris for Linux as their Unix platform of choice. For example, Oracle, once one of Sun's strongest allies, ditched Solaris internally for Linux. Additionally, Oracle has been pushing its customers onto Linux database clusters to scale their businesses and growth horizonatally on commodity x86 hardware. Such contracts have been steadily eating into marketshare that would previously have gone to "big iron" vendors, primarily Sun.
To restore Solaris to Unix dominance, something much greater than hardware support is required; Sun needs to gain mindshare in the open source community specifically by stealing it away from Linux. Moving to the GPL could jumpstart Solars' acceptance, but Sun will have to follow through on its promise to open everything. Open Solaris has been around for over a year but Sun has yet to release the entire Solaris 10 operating system to the open source community. To date, only the kernel, manual pages and a few tools have been released under the CDDL. The rest of the system consists of binary only downloads, each with its own license agreement. You cannot simply download the sources, build the system and run a Solaris system.
To challenge Linux, Sun will have to put all its cards on the table. The current outlook for Open Solaris is bleak. Without full source code, Open Solaris is nothing more than a distant fork of Solaris proper. For a GPL'd Open Solaris to regain UNIX dominance it will have to become the only Solaris. Sun must relinquish control and direction of its operating system to the open source community.
The GPL, regarded by the open source community as the holy grail of open source licenses, is the same license used by Linux, the flagship of the open source movement. When Sun announced the release of Java under the GPL, it secured acceptance with the open source faithful. Java's distribution previously required agreement to a binary license that hindered Linux vendor's ability to ship Java as a component of their distributions. Sun's move to the GPL immediately made Java a viable alternative to PHP, Perl, and Python, the primary development languages used to create open source software. Could the GPL spark the same interest in Open Solaris or is a move to GPL Solaris too little, too late?
Although Solaris is still the operating system of choice for enterprises running systems on Sun's SPARC architecture, the industry's direction has been shifting towards server deployments running x86 or x86_64 Intel and AMD chips. For Open Solaris to succeed, Sun needs to play in the x86 market currently dominated by Windows and Linux. Unfortunately, Sun spent most of the past decade boasting about the superiority of the SPARC architecture rather than directly addressing the rising competiton from the improving Intel and AMD camps. During the same period, open source momentum around Linux drove software developers, enthusiasts and enterprises alike to make Linux the preferred Unix-like OS on the x86 and x86_64 processor lines. To compete, Sun has to play catch up. With the relesae of Solaris 10, Sun committed itself to support for the x86 archetecture, however, Solaris supports only a fraction of the hardware that currently runs under Linux and Windows. If Sun were to GPL Solaris, it would immediately open up the opportunity for a comingling of code between Linux and Solaris, allowing Sun to pick up hardware support from community developed Linux drivers for free, literally.
However, lack of hardware support isn't the only hinderace to a Solaris resurgence. Linux's rapid adoption and growth in popularity hasn't gone unnoticed by ISVs (independent software vendors). Commerical software vendors that once developed products primarily for Solaris and Windows are now capitalizing on the OSS momentum and swapping Solaris for Linux as their Unix platform of choice. For example, Oracle, once one of Sun's strongest allies, ditched Solaris internally for Linux. Additionally, Oracle has been pushing its customers onto Linux database clusters to scale their businesses and growth horizonatally on commodity x86 hardware. Such contracts have been steadily eating into marketshare that would previously have gone to "big iron" vendors, primarily Sun.
To restore Solaris to Unix dominance, something much greater than hardware support is required; Sun needs to gain mindshare in the open source community specifically by stealing it away from Linux. Moving to the GPL could jumpstart Solars' acceptance, but Sun will have to follow through on its promise to open everything. Open Solaris has been around for over a year but Sun has yet to release the entire Solaris 10 operating system to the open source community. To date, only the kernel, manual pages and a few tools have been released under the CDDL. The rest of the system consists of binary only downloads, each with its own license agreement. You cannot simply download the sources, build the system and run a Solaris system.
To challenge Linux, Sun will have to put all its cards on the table. The current outlook for Open Solaris is bleak. Without full source code, Open Solaris is nothing more than a distant fork of Solaris proper. For a GPL'd Open Solaris to regain UNIX dominance it will have to become the only Solaris. Sun must relinquish control and direction of its operating system to the open source community.
Posted in Technology
by scott
on Jan 23, 2007
