Toshiba Adds OpenSolaris To Its Notebook Lineup

OpenSolaris may not be unseating Linux any time soon, but file this one under the "small steps" category: Toshiba's apparently working with Sun to offer OpSol as a preload on '09 laptops.

The news comes courtesy of ZDNet UK, and is a little skimpy on details, but one thing caught my eye: "Features in OpenSolaris 2008.11 include Time Slider, a graphical interface slide bar that allows users to access previous versions of files." The article goes on to describe how this is one of those nifty features made possible through Solaris's ZFS, and while other operating systems have roughly similar features (heck, even Windows has it) it's native in ZFS to a degree that no one else can match.

My main question is, who's the likely market for a Solaris notebook? The obvious answer is "Solaris developers," folks who want a development environment for Solaris that can double as a FOSS desktop in a pinch. That said, people tend to develop in the environment they're also planning to deploy in -- so, again, the real target audience for this machine seems a little hazy.

I have to also admit that Solaris as a desktop environment still seems a bit undercooked to me. Its biggest strength is in server environments, where it runs with great aplomb on multicore, multithread iron. On the desktop, it's things like quick response time with power management and broad device compatibility that are key, and it isn't clear yet that Solaris has an advantage over Linux (or Windows) in that area. Still, it's a sign that someone is taking Sun at least halfway seriously as a software shop.

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