Sun: Solaris will be open source

"We will open source Solaris."

So said Sun Microsystems' president and CEO Jonathan Schwartz at an Asia Pacific press conference in Shanghai.

"I don't want to say when that will happen. But make no mistake, we will open source Solaris," he declared.

The move is a widely anticipated one. Still, what will keep users and the press guessing for now is what form the licensing model of its longstanding server operating system will take as Schwartz refused to elaborate.

"Look, you only need to look at what we've done with Java to understand how Sun views the value of incorporating community feedback. Java could not exist if only Sun is supporting it. It exists because there are hundreds and thousands of partners. We need to now take the model with Java and bring it to Solaris," he said.

He added: "We've already adjusted our pricing model for Solaris into a subscription one that it is significantly less expensive than Red Hat and 80 per cent less expensive than Microsoft."

Schwartz also emphasised that Sun will be turning up its engagement level with partners in bringing open-source Solaris to its users in future. Sun will "continue to grow the community in both the open-source and closed-source world", he said.

But one problem that Schwartz wants to avoid is having Solaris splintered into different distributions as Linux has, which he said creates application incompatibilities. Going the way of Linux-type licensing, he suggested, creates open source but not open standards.

"There is a big difference between both [open source and open standards]. There is one Linux company in the world today that's confusing the two concepts and that is Red Hat. And it is very dangerous," said Schwartz.

"They are saying that because they are open source, they are open standards. But they are losing track of something that we've always been focused on. Which is that open standards enable substitution, choice and competition. Customers want to use our application server, or they may want to use Websphere, or BEA or a J2EE-compliant JBox," he added.

On the subject of a probable licensing model for the open-source Solaris, John Loiacono, executive vice president of Sun's Software Group, said: "We have to consider what licensing model we use and what levels of free usage we want. Then we also need to consider if we want to [segment the licensing model to address] commercial, private and academic use.

"We are finalising these things right now. You'll see that we'll be very aggressive and progressive in our approach."

Addressing the question of how Sun plans to make money with an open-source Solaris, he simply said that Sun doesn't have to rely on only the operating system. "We have hardware, storage, services and support. What we are doing is taking that whole thing and selling that whole thing," he said.

In his keynote, Schwartz showed the same demo of a future Sun desktop operating system called Project Looking Glass. Among the features were 3D-pivoting windows, extended desktop and translucent application windows.

Schwartz said that the company has shifted its focus. Instead of adding more sexy features to its future desktop operating system, Sun is focusing on making Looking Glass robust enough for launch soon. Again, he demurred when asked about Looking Glass' availability but asked himself a question instead: why not make Looking Glass open source as well?

Answering himself, he said: "It is a really good idea. I love the idea."

Ong Boon Kiat writes for CNET Asia