OpenSolaris vs Linux

[tug]

I tried the live cd a while back on my Inspiron 4000 (700Mhz, 192Mb).... 
you need a more powerful machine, it took forever to boot (at least 10 
minutes I seem to recall).

My reason was that at work the server side is Solaris, so I figured it 
could be a useful experience... I will give it another go, when I free 
up a more powerful machine.

Michael Lauzon wrote:
> Found this article linked to on Slashdot, here is a brief excerpt, the
> URL to the article will follow:
>
> So you've been playing around with alternative OSes for a while and
> you reckon you've got this Linux thing mastered. Maybe you're tried
> Mac OS X and found it a bit too restrictive (or expensive); perhaps
> you've kicked the Hurd's tyres and thought you'll come back to it when
> it's something more than just a clever name.
>
> If you're looking for something else to play with, we humbly suggest
> OpenSolaris. Like Mac OS X, which we looked at recently, OpenSolaris
> is based on Unix; also like OS X, it's best known for running on a
> specific processor (in this case Sun's SPARC architecture) but now
> works on a range of architectures including x86. Unlike OS X though,
> OpenSolaris is open source, so you can download it for free and start
> fiddling with it.
>
> We're not interested in a direct, head-to-head comparison, because for
> many people it's largely a matter of taste which one they choose. But
> we do want to help people see what makes OpenSolaris a little
> different from Linux, so read on for our quick-start guide for Linux
> users wanting to dip their toe into OpenSolaris and see which they
> prefer...
>
> The source code to Solaris (well, most of it) was released to the
> community in June 2005, and to make sure that it became a usable home
> system rather than just a server OS, Sun hired Ian Murdock, founder of
> the Debian project, to produce OpenSolaris. The first release appeared
> in May 2008 and the distribution adopted an approximately half-yearly
> release cycle: after OpenSolaris 2008.05 we got versions 2008.11 and
> 2009.06.
>
> Sun advertises its operating system as a full-blown distribution,
> including the Gnome desktop. But is OpenSolaris interesting enough for
> a Linux user? If you're happy with your favourite Linux distribution,
> why would you try OpenSolaris? In some aspects it's much like a
> regular Linux distribution, but in other aspects it's completely
> different. Do the exciting features of this operating system outweigh
> the trouble of learning another Unix environment with other tools?
>
> http://www.tuxradar.com/content/opensolaris-vs-linux
>
>
>   

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