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| DATE | 2004-06-05 |
| FROM | Ruben Safir
|
| SUBJECT | Subject: [hangout] Sun releasing code
|
Sun Shifts Tactics and Will Share Code of Its Server Software
By LAURIE J. FLYNN
Published: June 5, 2004
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Sun
Microsystems Incorporated
SAN FRANCISCO, June 4 - Executives of Sun Microsystems told customers
this week that it would do what once would have been unthinkable: turn
its proprietary operating system, Solaris, into open-source software.
Jonathan Schwartz, Sun's newly appointed chief executive, told corporate
customers in Shanghai last week that the company had decided to release
source code from its Solaris operating system through an open-source
license, the same free distribution strategy promoted by the developers
of Linux.
Sun, based in Mountain View, Calif., declined to provide details on how
the move would affect the company's overall business model, or whether
the company would provide all or only parts of the source code through
an open-source license. Sun has always held tight control over Solaris,
its proprietary network operating system for server computers.
"At this time, Sun is in the process of soliciting customer feedback in
refining various aspects of the project," the company said in a
statement released after Mr. Schwartz spoke to customers and reporters
gathered in Shanghai for Sun's quarterly network computing conference.
Over the last few years, Sun has lost a considerable amount of market
share in the server market to computers running Linux and Windows, which
are often less expensive than the kind of specialized hardware and
software sold by Sun.
The impact of Sun's decision, the apparent result of many months of
spirited debate inside the company, will depend on just how far Sun
decides to take the new approach, say analysts.
"It remains to be seen how they will structure it," said Ashok Kumar, an
analyst at Raymond James & Company. "There are more questions than
answers at this point."
It is possible that Sun would take a limited approach to open-source
licensing of Solaris, maintaining control over the core of the operating
system, for example. According to analysts, the company is still
wrangling with the details. "This is not the manifestation of a grand
plan, but they'll throw this out and see how it manifests itself," Mr.
Kumar said.
For developers in the open-source community, Sun's decision to move to
open source is striking given that it was their frustration with tightly
controlled programs like Solaris that led to the rise of the open-source
model in the first place. But given Linux's success, Sun's decision may
have come too late.
Sun's proprietary approach "landed it in this hole," said Eric A.
Raymond, president of the Open Source Initiative, an industry group.
"Solaris's high price and closed-source nature directly led to the
development of Linux."
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