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Technology Stocks : All About Sun Microsystems -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: cfimx who wrote (20601)	10/3/1999 9:17:00 AM
From: John Carragher	Respond to of 64865

Linus leaders are cool to Sun source-code plan By Hiawatha Bray, Globe Staff, 10/02/99 eaders of the booming Linux software movement are less than impressed with Sun Microsystems Inc.'s plan to imitate one of the key strategies behind Linux's growing popularity. Sun has announced it will publish the source code - the raw programming instructions - for Solaris, Sun's version of the Unix operating system. Solaris is one of the most popular versions of Unix, and is run on millions of computers throughout the world. Companies can easily pay tens of thousands of dollars to install Solaris on their networks. But now Sun will give away the source code to all comers. A skilled user will be able to convert the source code into a usable version of Solaris, free of charge. A similar policy underlies the widespread acceptance of Linux, a Unix-like operating system used in a growing number of businesses, schools, and governement agencies. Many Linux users like the software because they can modify the source code in any way they choose, customizing their computer systems. The new Solaris policy will permit the same kinds of modifications, but with a big difference. Sun will require that any modifications to the Solaris code be shared with Sun. In addition, users of the Solaris source code are barred from including any of the code in software they plan to sell. Linux places no such restrictions on its users. Linux uses a method called 'open source,' which permits all users to make any modifications they like, without having to submit them to a central authority. And users can use Linux to build entirely new programs, which they are then free to sell as commercial products. Linux specialists say Sun's offer of Solaris source code will fizzle because Sun is maintaining such strict controls on the software. 'I predict this is going to be a big yawn,' said programmer Eric Raymond, author of 'The Cathedral and The Bazaar,' a widely read analysis of the open source movement. In his essay, Raymond wrote that open source software tends to improve more quickly than commercial software products. The reason, he argued, is that with open source code, hundreds of programmers write improvements and repair bugs, then freely share their work with others. Raymond thinks Sun is trying to harness this same legion of free programming talent to improve Solaris. But at the same time, by requiring all modifications be submitted to Sun, the company hopes to maintain a standardized version of Solaris and prevent the development of many incompatible versions. 'Essentially, Sun still controls the game,' Raymond said. But Raymond believes the restrictions will merely cause programmers to refuse to write improvements to Solaris. Instead, he said, they'll stick with Linux, where they can do as they like. Raymond's views were echoed by some major Linux software firms. Lonn Johnston, vice president of TurboLinux Inc., the leading distributor of Linux software in Asia, said Sun is trying to have its cake and eat it, too. 'It's like being pregnant,' said Johnston. 'You either are pregnant or you aren't.' And Melissa London, a spokeswoman for the biggest Linux distributor, Red Hat Inc., called the Sun announcement 'a lot of smoke and mirrors.' Sun officials failed to return several phone calls yesterday. This story ran on page F01 of the Boston Globe on 10/02/99.