Source code for the SolarisTM 10 Operating System (Solaris OS) will be accessible at its new community Web site deemed opensolaris.org in the second quarter of 2005. This source code will be released under the Open Source Initiative (OSI)-approved Common Development and Distribution License (CDDL).

In partnership with members of the open source community, Sun created a license with the CDDL that is based upon the MozillaTM Public License (MPL). The MPL was preferred since it is short and concise, and has simplified notice requirements. It also contains strong protection against patent litigation.

With CDDL, this license is reusable and integratable, making it appealing to other open source projects that would not be required to create a new license.

"It was great to work with Sun on the CDDL. They did their homework, were careful in all the details and they privately previewed the license with influential members of the license committee," said Russ Nelson, vice president, OSI. "Sun addressed everyone's concerns and in the end produced a license that is clearly and comfortably open source. The CDDL will help them build the community of developers necessary for any open source project."

Sun also plans on establishing a Community Advisory Board to assist in the direction of the OpenSolaris operating system technology and its community development. The advisory board will consist of five members, two of which will be elected from the OpenSolaris Pilot community, two Sun employees and one to be selected from the broader open source community. This advisory board will be finalized by March 2005, and is expected to evolve with the needs of its community.

"Sun's heritage has always been deeply rooted in open source and open standards-based software. OpenSolaris represents a significant milestone in the history of Sun, the Solaris community and larger open source community," said John Loiacono, executive vice president of Software at Sun. "We strongly believe the OpenSolaris community will help foster the innovation and collaboration needed to open up new opportunities for developers, customers and partners."

The IT industry is watching and waiting to see how this new community will progress. Jay Wrolstad with NewsFactor spoke to a few industry watchers who offered their perspective on Sun's strategy.

IDC analyst Dan Kusnetzky commented, "This clearly breaks new ground, as Sun becomes the first major UNIXR supplier to go through their code and determine ownership of the components of that code."

Gordon Haff of Illuminata called Sun's open source initiative "a bold move" with no significant downside for the company. "A few years ago it was unthinkable for a major UNIX provider to open up the crown jewels, and this shows just how much the world has changed," he told NewsFactor.

According to Haff, the biggest challenge facing Sun is building a developer community in an open source environment where Linux has a dominant position. "Delivering the code does not buy them much at this point, because most customers equate open source with Linux," he said. "They have to get people to look beyond Linux."

Developers attention may soon be riveted toward the more than 1,600 active Sun patents that were released as part of this launch. Included in this release is Sun's diagnostic tool known as DTrace or the SolarisTM Dynamic Tracing tool, whose source code is now available at the OpenSolaris community Web site.

During a conference call with reporters, Sun Chairman and CEO Scott McNealy said that these freely released patents are completely indemnified against current IP controversies such as the legal battles between IBM and SCO Group, reported Michael Singer with internetnews.com.

"We think a lot of people will be writing drivers," McNealy said. "We hope we get surprised . . . this will morph and evolve. Someone could take the code and build a set-top box, or take the gaming APIs out of Solaris and build gaming platform, or put it in next-generation handsets."

McNealy also said that the move will benefit many enterprise users and governments across the globe by meeting their open-source requirements, reported eWeek's Peter Galli. He also believes this initiative will open the base for Solaris and help drive it into new markets.

"With the OpenSolaris project, I think it's correct to say that Sun is the number one donor of lines of code of any organization worldwide," McNealy said. "Solaris 10 is the number one operating system on the planet at this time in terms of features and choice of platforms, including Intel and AMD on 32-bit and 64-bit, and it is available for free with a right-to-use contract."

For more detailed information on Sun's CDDL license, visit:

http://www.sun.com/cddl

For more information on the OpenSolaris initiative, visit:

http://www.opensolaris.org [...read more...]

		fullsource
Print Email Current Profile Archive Blog Generate newsletter