Sun to set Solaris free, after a fashion

Tech Support Forum General Software
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Sun Microsystems plans to announce a free version of its Solaris operating system Monday, taking a page that Red Hat tore from its playbook in 2003.

Anyone who registers with Sun will be able to use Solaris for free on servers with x86 processors, said John Loiacono, executive vice president of Sun’s software business. It’s not a totally free lunch, though: Sun will provide security updates in the free version but will charge an annual subscription fee for bug fixes and support.

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Unfortuantely, Sun still lacks the robust hardware support of any modern Linux distro. Last time I tried getting Solaris working on an x86, it was a nightmare I’d just as soon forget. I think the biggest advantage of Solaris is lost once you move it off of their SPARC architecture.