By Tony Hallett, 19 August 1998 00:20
NEWS Sun Microsystems claims it received over 10,000 requests for the freeware version of Solaris it made available last week. The Unix vendor - which is attempting to ensure the long-term future for its proprietary operating system (OS) in the face of strong competition from Microsoft's Windows NT - is offering the OS to non-commercial users such as academics, students, hobbyists, and some developers. The offer has also led to a further 18,000 subscribers joining the Sun Developer Connection programme. However, Sun's Free Solaris Program is not the great deal it may appear to be, according to Gary Cooper, a research analyst at the Butler Group. "For a start, they're charging $20-35 for media and shipping charges, which for 10,000 copies per week isn't insignificant," he said. "And any applications deployed for commercial use mean developers need to buy a proper licence." But Cooper and others have recognised the move makes sound commercial sense. In addition to vendors forming partnerships around the main Unix flavours - IBM's AIX, HP-UX, Digital Unix and Solaris - Sun is targeting the IT managers of tomorrow, and trying to grow its user community. Guy Martin, product marketing manager at Sun Software, said: "This is extremely important for us. We're getting Solaris out to a wider user base. There's been a groundswell of support for Solaris as the leading Unix against NT, but I must say the demand has surprised us." Martin denied the company is making any money from distributing the software.
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