Ian Murdock rewrites history!
I can’t help but comment on Ian Murdock’s talks he has been giving since at Sun. His main premise seems to be that OpenSolaris is no different then Linux except for the kernel. I think he is playing fast and loose with the truth. I agree with the premise that Linux as most people refer to is the complete distro, ie GNU software, Firefox etc. The point where I strongly disagree is where he seems to claim that most people are not Linux people including himself but Open Source people. If this was cut and dry then the OpenSolaris kernel could be dropped in with the Gnome desktop and the new Project Indiana packaging system and the world could just as easily use OpenSolaris as they have used Linux. Well that is far from the truth. Just try for yourself and you will certainly see just how vastly different Linux and Opensolaris is. Ian seems to ignore the community around Linux (yes Linux not Opensource) that has enabled the seemless hardware support with the awesome work that continues to be done in the Linux driver space. So does anyone else seem to think that Ian is just slightly oversimplifying why Linux is so successfull and clearly the winner hands down when compared with Opensolaris.
No Ian, Linux is not just the distro that many people are sadly mistaken to have credited with more then it deserves. Linux is not “just” a kernel in that sense. Let’s give credit where credit is due. Without Linux, the distro as we know it would not exist. Please at least admit that Ian.
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(I work at Sun)
I don’t know which talk you are referring to, but I have heard Ian repeatedly say that perhaps the greatest innovation Linux has brought into the world *is* the distro.
While I do agree with that sentiment I’m more referring to him saying that when people say they want Linux they are not referring to Linux but to the distro and software in the distro. I know he is trying to influence use of OpenSolaris because that is his job. What I do not agree with is him implying that plugging in OpenSolaris gives users the same experience that a Linux distro would. That is not the truth I have tried on several occasions and gave up on OpenSolaris because it does not have the hardware and packaging support that “Linux” has come to have. Please don’t misunderstand me. I am trying to learn kernel programming and would only hope that the OpenSolaris distro would work to an acceptable level being hardware and software installation because Linux’s documentation alone is non existent. Not to mention DTrace and ZFS and the organization of the Solaris system and innovation is very attractive as well. It seemed that every time I decided I would install a package or even compile a package from source I would be met with some sort of speed bump. I also come from a Windows SysAdmin background so my inexperience doesn’t help either.
Thanks
Joe