MESSAGE
| DATE | 2006-11-15 |
| FROM | Ruben Safir
|
| SUBJECT | Subject: [NYLXS - HANGOUT] Sun and the GPL
|
Sun to release OpenSolaris under the GPL?
11/14/2006 6:50:35 PM, by Ryan Paul
After releasing Java under the open source GPL license yesterday,
Sun's senior vice president of software, Rich Green, hinted that the
company might make the source code of the company's UNIX operating
system available under the GPL license as well. The availability of
OpenSolaris under the GPL license would facilitate the inclusion of
Solaris source code in the Linux kernel, something that can't be done
with the CDDL license currently used by OpenSolaris.
At yesterday's public event, Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz discussed Solaris
licensing with Green, asking the executive if he was "adverse to changing
the [OpenSolaris] license." Green explains that he is "certainly not"
opposed to the idea, and that Sun "will take a close look" at the
possibility of releasing OpenSolaris under the GPL.
Sun's opinion of the GPL seems to flip every year or two, and Schwartz
first hinted at the possibility of releasing Solaris under the GPL in
2004 when he said, "we view the GPL as a friend." Schwartz expressed
a very different opinion in 2005, when he condemned the GPL license,
characterizing its share-alike clauses as a "predatory obligation" and
"intellectual property colonialism." The Sun executive changed his
opinion once more early this year when he again expressed interest
in licensing Solaris under the GPL 3, citing a desire to promote
"cross-pollination between Linux and OpenSolaris."
Sun's current interest in the GPL is likely a result of Green's
influence. Green describes the GPL as "an industry standard license"
and says that the GPL was chosen for Java because it is "the most
widely accepted, the most valued, and the most interestingly evolving
open-source license." Although many were skeptical last time Schwartz
expressed an interest in licensing Solaris under the GPL, Sun has earned
back credibility with the recent release of Java, and I think that
the community will probably give them the benefit of the doubt this
time. By releasing Solaris under the GPL, Sun could finally eliminate
the barriers that currently prevent interchange of source code between
Linux and Solaris.
-- __________________________ Brooklyn Linux Solutions
So many immigrant groups have swept through our town that Brooklyn, like
Atlantis, reaches mythological proportions in the mind of the world -
RI Safir 1998
DRM is THEFT - We are the STAKEHOLDERS - RI Safir 2002
http://fairuse.nylxs.com
"Yeah - I write Free Software...so SUE ME"
"The tremendous problem we face is that we are becoming sharecroppers
to our own cultural heritage -- we need the ability to participate in
our own society."
http://www.mrbrklyn.com - Consulting http://www.nylxs.com - Leadership
Development in Free Software http://www2.mrbrklyn.com/resources -
Unpublished Archive or stories and articles from around the net
|
|
