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June 26, 2004
Solaris libre
Speaking today of software libre, I watched JohnnyL and Glenn on internal newscast yesterday talking about getting a license for Solaris that lets the open source community get all the code we can legally put out there. It seems to me we already allow you to get the code, but maybe that was not so well publicized. Apparently this video is going to appear on the Internet real soon now, but I cannot find it yet.
The guys look determined, but also a little uncomfortable with this move. Not a new thing. Ed Zander came to Paris in the spring of 1999, and did Q&A for employees. At the time, I'd just joined, so I asked him what Sun was doing around Linux. He answered that Linux probably wouldn't even have happened had we made it easier for people who became Linux enthusiasts to get Solaris, perhaps by opening up access to the sources in the mid-90s.
Not sure that Linux wouldn't have happened, but I get the impression that we (Sun) have understood the issues for a long time, that what we're struggling with is not understanding the problem, but reconciling the open source model with control over our "intellectual property." Scarcity thinking again. We even reportedly have some customers -- probably guys that go to the Pebble Beach Golf Club with Scott and our Executive VPs -- who are afraid that if we open-source everything, quality will go down.
You can ignore those fears about quality. You'll still be able to get a Solaris distro from Sun that's gone through all the rigor of all the Solaris gates, and been regression tested in many, many different configurations. You can run your business on Solaris.
I can imagine a lot of good things happening, however, if we get a license that lets top-notch developers take what they see as useful in the kernel and try it on Linux. And vice-versa in Solaris. There must be a number of not so lovely hacks around, but there must also be some really nice code in there in both places. A shame to have "intellectual property" issues stand in the way of comingling that.
Posted by Mark at June 26, 2004 07:23 AM