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<title>Sun Joins Linux International LG #29</title>
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<H4>
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"Linux Gazette...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I>"
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</H4>
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<font color="navy">A <I>Linux Journal</I> Preview</font>:
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This article will appear in the August issue of <I>Linux Journal</I>.
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<P> <HR> <P>
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<center>
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<H1><font color="maroon">Sun Joins Linux International</font></H1>
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<H4>By <a href="mailto:gazette@ssc.com">Marjorie Richardson</a></H4>
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<P> <HR> <P>
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In May, Sun Microsystems joined Linux International. In a
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year where Netscape has released their source and many companies have
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announced that their products will be supporting Linux, I felt Sun's move
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was an interesting enough development to want to know more. Therefore, I
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did a short e-mail interview with Charles Andres, a Group Manager in
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Market Development Engineering at Sun Microsystems. Here's what he told me.
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<p>
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<i>
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<b>Margie</b>:Why has Sun made the decision to join Linux International?
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</i><p>
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<b>Charles</b>: Sun Microsystems is responding to renewed interest in
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running Linux on its UltraSPARC products, such as the Ultra 5.
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SPARC products have always been designed to run UNIX extremely well.
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Linux runs well on UltraSPARC platforms.
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<p>
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It is important to note that this move in no way diminishes Sun's support
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for Solaris, a proven reliable scalable operating system. The Solaris environment
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will still be provided with all SPARC systems and is considered by us to be
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the best operating system for enterprise and network computing.
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<p>
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<i>
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<b>Margie</b>: Is Sun planning to have Linux support for all its products?
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</i><p>
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<b>Charles</b>: Sun Microsystems is not planning on selling any products that are bundled
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with Linux. Sun bundles Solaris with every workstation and server
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it currently ships. There are also no plans to provide support for
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Linux directly. However, there are a number of Linux vendors that
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support a variety of platforms. We are working to ensure that these
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vendors include UltraSPARC platform support for their Linux products.
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<p>
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<i>
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<b>Margie</b>: Does this move represent a shift in policy for Sun? Last year, we
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asked for a picture of a SunSPARC workstation to use on our cover, and
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were refused because ``Linux is a competitor.'' (We used a Ross SPARCplug instead.)
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</i><p>
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<b>Charles</b>: Sun Microsystems has never had an official policy regarding Linux up to now.
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As stated above, Sun Microsystems has gone from having no policy regarding
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Linux, to helping to ensure that Linux runs on SPARC by assisting companies who
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sell supported versions of Linux.
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<p>
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<i>
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<b>Margie</b>: How does Sun feel about the ``Open
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Source'' movement? (Prominent in the news, because of Netscape
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source release.)
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</i><p>
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<b>Charles</b>: Sun Microsystems has a long tradition of supporting open standards,
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typically through standardized interfaces, many of which Sun has invented. Providing
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source code may be appropriate in some specific instances, but typically works
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well only in situations where trademarks associated with the source code are licensed.
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Compatibility, consistency, reliability and upgrades require a
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business model that can finance the effort required to provide them.
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<p>
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Users who want the freedom of Open Source take on the responsibility of
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maintaining their own source code, but cannot guarantee consistent results
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with other variants. This could become a problem for Netscape source variants if
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they are not uniquely identified. This is why we feel brand protection
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through licensing
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is so important.
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<p>
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<i>
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<b>Margie</b>: Some people feel that Java should be made Open
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Source. Any chance of that happening?
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</i><p>
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<b>Charles</b>: Source for the Java language is available to anyone who signs the Java
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license which is free for non-commercial use. This is done to allow
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Java to run anywhere, and to avoid problems that could occur when
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source is modified to produce variants that are not consistent with
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the Java language specification.
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<p>
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<i>
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<b>Margie</b>: Anything else you'd like to add?
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</i><p>
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<b>Charles</b>: We look forward to working with you and the Linux community
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to promote the advantages of UNIX and Linux on SPARC in the future.
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<p>
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<i>
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<b>Margie</b>:Thank you for your time.
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</i>
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<!--===================================================================-->
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<P> <hr> <P>
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<center><H5>Copyright © 1998, Marjorie Richardson <BR>
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Published in Issue 29 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, June 1998</H5></center>
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