Qwik, as the sole SUNW poster"with a rational head on his shoulders" you might enjoy this view of the SCSL from techweb:
techweb.com
Solaris Source Project Not Aimed At Linux
(10/04/99, 1:21 p.m. ET)
By Mo Krochmal, TechWeb
NEW YORK -- Sun Microsystems is not
engineering the demise of Linux by opening up
the source code to Solaris, an executive said
Monday.
The hardware and software giant, while confirming it will
release the source code to Solaris, its implementation of
the Unix OS, said it is not trying to destroy the growth of
the Linux OS.
"Linux may have compatibility challenges down the road,
but any adoption of Linux is an adoption of a technology
that is closer to Sun's technology," said George Paolini,
vice president of marketing for Sun, speaking at the
Intershop summit in New York on Monday.
Some analysts estimate the Linux OS is installed on 10
million computers. Sun is the leader in the Unix market
with 30 percent of overall Unix server units sold in 1998,
up from 9.6 percent in 1996, according to market
research company Dataquest, in San Jose, Calif.
Earlier, Palo Alto, Calif.-based Sun had confirmed that it
will offer developers free access to the source code for
Solaris. However, it is not a complete release of the
code, but will come under Sun's "Community" scheme
that requires royalties be paid to Sun on any revenue
from commercial products derived from changes to the
code.
Paolini said Sun may release the code for other software
products in a similar scheme to the model it has
developed with Java.
"The one thing that Java has taught us is that ubiquity is
first, then adoption is second," Paolini said. "You can't get
a product adopted until you get a product everywhere."
Sun is striking a balance between the old world of
shrink-wrapped software and the new world of entirely
open source software, he said.
In August, Sun released Solaris to educators and others
who sign an agreement not to use the software for
commercial purposes may download the environment for
free. Solaris normally costs $695, though educators
usually pay only $99 for it.
Michael
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