How Open Source Coders Are Helping Sun With Solaris

Solaris 10, the current release of Sun’s powerful UNIX operating system, was released to the public in 2005 for free download and with a long list of exciting technologies. The latest advances in the computing world are constantly being incorporated in new MUs of Solaris 10 distributed every few months. Some of the major features of Solaris include Dynamic Tracing to troubleshoot performance problems, and the very powerful Zettabyte File System (ZFS).

Sun also set up the OpenSolaris in 2006. During that first year, the OpenSolaris community had grown to 14,000 members with 29 user groups globally, working on 31 concurrent projects. Although displaying a deep commitment to open-source ideals, it also provides Sun with thousands of programmers essentially working for free.

The features of OpenSolaris demonstrates Sun Microsystems’ ability to be on the leading edge of the computing world without losing touch with the current technology environment. The OpenSolaris project is the ultimate example of these twin strengths — Sun has tapped into the creative energy of coders across the globe and receives instant feedback about what their installed base wants.