OpenSolaris is dead

[Bungo Pony]

Not really a surprise...


After Oracle gave the group the cold shoulder, the OpenSolaris Governing Board voted unanimously to disband, according to meeting minutes.

Source:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-30685_3-20014478-264.html

[Dragonbite]

Time to avenge their death! Arrghh!!

Yeah, no surprise. Unfortunately the responsible party also has OpenOffice, Java, VirtualBox and MySQL "hostage" as well!

[cgroza]

They all will be dead. Same as Open Solaris.

[Dragonbite]

They all will be dead. Same as Open Solaris.

Optimistic.

[Sporkman]

VirtualBox is Awesome!

[cgroza]

Optimistic.
:D:D Its almost always good to be optimistic! :p:p

[Spice Weasel]

I hate Oracle.

Anyone feel up to recompiling a load of their stuff and removing the branding etc?

[tbrminsanity]

I hate Oracle.

Anyone feel up to recompiling a load of their stuff and removing the branding etc?

I do think that there are things in the OpenSolaris kernel that would be nice in the Linux kernel (mainly the ability to never have to reboot even when patching the kernel). It would be worth while to grab the code while it is still available and go through it with a fine tooth comb.

[cgroza]

I still don't get it. Why in the world did SUN sold everything to oracle?

[Ozor Mox]

I'm sure the important stuff (which as it happens is probably all of it!) will be forked. It remains to be seen if it will make the same kind of progress as it has up until now, but the code won't just vanish in to thin air no matter what Oracle does.

[Ozor Mox]

I still don't get it. Why in the world did SUN sold everything to oracle?

They didn't, they were taken over by Oracle, meaning Oracle (unfortunately a much less open source friendly company) now owns copyright on all of their products.

[cgroza]

I'm sure the important stuff (which as it happens is probably all of it!) will be forked. It remains to be seen if it will make the same kind of progress as it has up until now, but the code won't just vanish in to thin air no matter what Oracle does.
Good to know.

[LowSky]

OpenSolaris might have disbanded but Illumos is taking its place. There is also Nexenta, so why cry?

http://www.illumos.org/

[Spice Weasel]

I do think that there are things in the OpenSolaris kernel that would be nice in the Linux kernel (mainly the ability to never have to reboot even when patching the kernel). It would be worth while to grab the code while it is still available and go through it with a fine tooth comb.

Why hasn't anyone done that before? :o

[Sporkman]

Linux & BSD meets our free software needs.

[Ric_NYC]

Are you guys trying to revive dead corpses?

OpenSolaris is dead! It stinks already... Stay away! :)

[mips]

They didn't, they were taken over by Oracle, meaning Oracle (unfortunately a much less open source friendly company) now owns copyright on all of their products.

That's not the end of the world. You can still fork the projects and continue their development. Oracle can change the license agreements for new versions of these projects but they cannot apply the new license retroactively to the older code that was open sourced. Copyright means the forked work will just have to adopt a new name for forked projects.

[Ozor Mox]

That's not the end of the world. You can still fork the projects and continue their development. Oracle can change the license agreements for new versions of these projects but they cannot apply the new license retroactively to the older code that was open sourced. Copyright means the forked work will just have to adopt a new name for forked projects.

Of course. It's still a pain having an open source "hostile" company owning the copyright, but they can do nothing about the licence of all versions up until now, as you say.

[khelben1979]

I hate Oracle.

I don't like them either, but it would surprise me greatly if OpenOffice were to get affected in a similiar matter just because of Oracle. According to the Wikipedia page, they have other developers than Oracle which is working on OpenOffice and I also know that there are other variants.

When I heard about Oracle a long time ago (the 90's), it seems they had created an excellent database and it's bad for Oracle if they decide to destroy their own reputation by trashing products from Sun.

A.f.a.i.k. Oracle can't change the open source license for OpenOffice, correct me if I'm wrong.

[Ozor Mox]

A.f.a.i.k. Oracle can't change the open source license for OpenOffice, correct me if I'm wrong.

Half right. Oracle can close source OpenOffice since they own the copyright to it, but that won't affect previous versions of it, which people are free to fork or whatever.

[Sporkman]

Half right. Oracle can close source OpenOffice since they own the copyright to it, but that won't affect previous versions of it, which people are free to fork or whatever.

Can they really close source it, though, since by now external parties have contributed code to it, under the understanding that their code is under GPL. Wouldn't closing the code violate their GPL contributions?

[Ozor Mox]

Can they really close source it, though, since by now external parties have contributed code to it, under the understanding that their code is under GPL. Wouldn't closing the code violate their GPL contributions?

Good point. I don't know the answer if third parties have contributed.

[betrunkenaffe]

Good point. I don't know the answer if third parties have contributed.

They would have to remove the 3rd party code and redevelop those sections to replace the functionality. The developers of that replacement code would have to be someone who has not seen the original 3rd party code.

[Dragonbite]

While OpenSolaris is being closed (the governing board has disbanded) Nexenta OS (http://www.nexenta.org/) and another Open Solaris (kernel) based project (BeleniX (http://www.belenix.org/)?) are working together to try and keep the OpenSolaris kernel/project alive.

So there is a fork in the works.

[cgroza]

Are you guys trying to revive dead corpses?

OpenSolaris is dead! It stinks already... Stay away! :)

Stay away? But who is going to put it in his grave. We cant just leave it to rot in the middle of the HDD!:D:D