Sun Aims To Outdo Linux

Sun Microsystems wants Internet developers to deploy their Web infrastructures on Sun's Solaris 10 operating system. Its three latest releases aim to help. They include Solaris Express, Developer Edition, an OpenSolaris-based distribution for Solaris, Java, and Web 2.0 developers; Solaris + AMP (Apache/MySQL/Perl or PHP), an open source-based Web infrastructure stack designed for the Solaris 10 operating system; and an expansion of Sun's Startup Essentials program.

	What's New
	Solaris Express, Developer Edition OpenSolaris-based distribution for Solaris, Java, and Web 2.0 developers
	Solaris + AMP Open source-based Web infrastructure stack optimized for Solaris 10
	Sun Startup Essentials Expansion of program to help make hardware purchases easier for new companies

Solaris Express, Developer Edition aims to simplify installation of the stripped-down operating system. It includes an improved Gnome-based desktop and Sun development tools such as Sun Studio 11 software and NetBeans Integrated Development Environment 5.5, and more than 150 open source apps.

Developers using Solaris + AMP applications get a free 60-day trial of some Sun hardware. And Startup Essentials, which aims to make online hardware purchases easy for new companies, includes storage products that can be added to the low-cost servers Sun has been offering program members.

Many companies prototype their projects using available LAMP (Linux/AMP) technology and commodity PCs, says Juan Carlos Soto, Sun's VP of marketing. "It's certainly understandable why that would be the start, but we also want to make sure they have a chance to look at what Sun has to offer," Soto says.

David Young, CEO of on-demand app and infrastructure provider Joyent, knows what Sun has to offer. Joyent's collaboration service runs on top of Sun Fire servers running OpenSolaris. Young wanted a mature OS that runs on multiprocessor systems. "The nice thing about Sun is you get this very focused R&D behind the OS," he says. The latest Solaris releases should show if other developers value that maturity as much as Joyent does.