Sun Hits the Source

It looks as if Sun Microsystems Inc. (Nasdaq: SUNW) is delivering on its promise to open-source its Solaris operating system (see Sun Opens Solaris and Sun Hopes to Shine ).

Sun has confirmed that the source code for the latest version of the OS, Solaris 10, will be available in the second quarter under a Common Development and Distribution License (CDDL). However, code for Solaris 10s DTrace technology, which is designed to help system administrators resolve performance problems, is already available on the Website launched to support the initiative: opensolaris.org.

Bill Bradford, founder of the Sun user group SunHelp, believes that this is a step in the right direction. “It shows that Sun is serious about releasing all this stuff to the community,” he says. "They are putting their money where their mouth is."

But Gordon Haff, senior analyst at Illuminata Inc. warns that it could be quite some time before the benefits of open-source Solaris trickle down into the data center. “You’re probably looking out at a year -- this is a long-term play,” he says.

Nonetheless, Haff believes that there could be some real bonuses for data center managers, such as a broader range of device drivers for the X86 range of Intel Corp. (Nasdaq: INTC) processors.Bradford predicts that other long-term benefits will come in areas such as virtualization and dynamic partitioning, where users run a number of different "instances" of the operating system on a single piece of hardware.

However, Haff warns that the success of open-source Solaris depends on building up a significant community of developers. “Just opening up the source code doesn’t mean that there will be a community,” he says. “As a company, Sun will have to show that they are willing to work with the community rather than dictating what they want."

Bradford, who describes himself as being very much “in the trenches” of the open-source initiative, feels that there is little to worry about. “There has already been a pilot program for the Solaris community, and more people will join as the public face of the project grows and Sun shares more source code."

Since the firm revealed its plans to open up the source code last year, there has, however, been a feeling in the industry that Sun is sending out something of a mixed message with regard to Linux. The vendor appears to both embrace Linux while at the same time competing with it.

But Bradford believes that, if anything, customers are getting more choice. “I don’t really see this as being competition to Linux,” he says. “Sun are saying that you can use either Linux or open source [Solaris] on x86 or Sparc processors.”— James Rogers, Site Editor, Next-Gen Data Center Forum