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Free Solaris Joins Burgeoning Freeware
Movement
August 20, 1998 02:30 AM PDT
****Free Solaris Joins Burgeoning Freeware Movement 08/10/98 PALO
ALTO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., 1998 AUG 10 (NB) -- By Bruce W. Perry,
Special to Newsbytes. In the spirit of "freeware," Sun Microsystems
[NASDAQ:SUNW] is allowing academics, researchers, and others to acquire
a license to its Solaris operating system (OS) for only the cost of
media shipping, and handling. The workstation and OS company's strategy
is similar to Sun's ongoing free distribution of the Java Development
Kit to hundreds of thousands of programmers, which has helped launch
that language into the software mainstream.
Through the expanded Sun Developer Connection program, developers,
students, researchers, and others worldwide can request a free license
to the latest version of the Solaris OS for PCs or SPARC workstations.
"We're trying to give people who haven't had an opportunity to play
with the Solaris operating environment a chance to do so," explains Sun
spokesperson Ry Schwark. "We already have commercial and other
developer programs that give folks access to the operating system and
development tools pretty cost-effectively. But we had not yet expanded
that program to universities or computer enthusiasts."
Well-known in Silicon Valley for Bill-Gates bashing, Sun CEO Scott
McNealy is now encroaching on Windows 98 territory with an OS that
costs the equivalent of about one-fifth of that popular computer
system.
Non-commercial developers can order their copy of the Solaris OS at
http://www.sun.com/developers . Students, educators, and researchers
can place their orders at the following Web site:
http://www.sun.com/edu/solaris .
Solaris normally costs about two thousand dollars, depending on its
configuration, and much higher than that "for some of the super-server"
versions, Sun's Schwark said.
Sun is clearly trying to keep existing Solaris programmers in their
camp, win over the new programmers in training and research at
universities, as well as lure developers away from Windows NT Server or
Workstation, the Sun OS's most formidable competitors. "Many developers
are frustrated by the limitations of their current operating systems
and would welcome the chance to install (Solaris) on their PCs and give
it a try," said Sun Solaris Software President John McFarlane.
If you sign up for the free Sun Developer Connection program, you can
acquire a Solaris license for about a $20 media shipping-and-handling
charge, according to Schwark. If a developer who is licensed under the
new program wants to use Solaris-related software for commercial
purposes, then they will have to formally buy the OS.
The Free Solaris program is being managed through the Sun Developer
Connection program, which teachers, developers, and others can join at
the following Web site:
http://www.sun.com/developers . This Web site
will help interested downloaders determine whether their existing
PC-based hardware is compatible with Solaris:
http://access1.sun.com:80/drivers/hcl .
The Sun Developer Connection program consists of comprehensive
Web-based information for the developers that are creating new software
for Solaris and Java technologies.
16:27 CST
(19980810/Press Contact: Ry Schwark, for Sun Microsystems,
650-786-7745, E-mail ryerson.schwark@???/WIRES PC, NETWORK,
BUSINESS/)
© 1998 Newsbytes. All rights reserved.
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