In an entry I put up in January, I put forward a theory that Sun was using GNU/Linux for its JDS until such a time as OpenSolaris was ready for it. This appears to be now, believe it or not. I'm quite surprised at this as I though it would be a few years before OpenSolaris would be ready for use with JDS.
In all honesty, I don't think this is a terribly bad thing. Diversity is good, and if OpenSolaris as part of JDS presents us with a wider range of good quality desktop operating systems, all the better for the market. Their licensing terms will probably be open source "on its mother's side" as it were, though, making JDS not my first choice.
Sun is entitled to do what it wants in the market, and is entitled to do it with Free Software, because that's a freedom that comes with Free Software. While proponents of Free Software may not agree with Sun's tactics, two things are true:
- GNU/Linux will always remain Free, despite what all its detractors say and do; and
- JDS will still have to compete and the market will ultimately decide (even if it takes a long time, but see point 1 above) what desktop operating system is the better.
Éibhear
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