[H-GEN] Solaris 10 give away

[McBofh]

Benjamin Carlyle wrote:
> [ Humbug *General* list - semi-serious discussions about Humbug and     ]
> [ Unix-related topics. Posts from non-subscribed addresses will vanish. ]
> 
> On Mon, 2007-01-15 at 22:12 +1100, McBofh wrote:
>> Anthony Irwin wrote:
>>> If anyone is interested in playing with Solaris 10 then it seems that 
>>> Sun is giving away free install dvd's for a limited time.
>>> http://www2.sun.de/dc/forms/reg_us_2211_391.jsp
 >>
>> As the resident Solaris know-it-all^Wzealot^W(knowledgeable person)
>> of the group, feel free to ask me any questions you might have about
>> Solaris and OpenSolaris.
> 
> Do you know much about the legal situation around solaris these days? It
> seems that newer OS patches are only available to users with support
> agreements. Only the older versions seem to be available on sunsolve.
> Aren't these components free? Also, it appears illegal to distribute OS
> patches... that patches must be obtained directly from Sun to be legal.
> Do you know where Sun are heading with these kinds of restrictions, and
> with their free "right to use" Solaris 10 Entitlement Document that must
> be obtained in order to legally run Solaris 10?
> 
> I understand that there are proprietary parts of the operating system
> that still need proection, but every time I hear about the legal side of
> Solaris these days it makes me feel that I can't trust my understanding
> of the legal framework it operates in.

Hi Ben,
there are a few issues that you're conflating here, and
it is my belief that your information is quite out of date.


The "legal situation around Solaris" is unchanged - it's
always been clear of threats from SCO and the like, due to
a very canny licensing deal made in 1991/2.

The "legal situation" for OpenSolaris is also clear, for
the same reason. You can find more information on what source
is available under OpenSolaris at

http://www.opensolaris.org/os/about and
http://www.opensolaris.org/os/licensing and
http://www.opensolaris.org/os/about/faq



Re patches and patch availability:

Firstly, for as long as I can recall you've always been
able to get kernel, security and device driver patches
for free from sunsolve.

Secondly, you can get these patches for free from sunsolve,
using wget or Sun Update Connection. These require a Sun
Online account.... which is free, not a marketing tool
(unless *you* choose the appropriate radioboxes on registration)
and pretty painless to get.

Thirdly, yes it is illegal to re-distribute Sun's patches.
This is part of Sun's IP protection and -as I understand it-
pretty much required by copyright law - if you don't take
steps to protect your copyrights, you lose them.

The above is documented in -freely available- documents
found on sunsolve

http://sunsolve.sun.com/search/document.do?assetkey=1-9-83061-1
http://sunsolve.sun.com/search/document.do?assetkey=1-9-82023-1

and mentioned here too

http://www.sun.com/software/solaris/support.jsp



Regarding the free RTU - there aren't any catches to that.


 From the Solaris 10 FAQs, q3: 
http://www.sun.com/software/solaris/faqs/s10.jsp#q_3

================================================================================
3.    How much does Solaris 10 cost?

       Solaris 10 is free, regardless of the number or type of systems you 
want to run it on. In order to use the Solaris 10 Operating System for 
perpetual commercial use, each system running the Solaris 10 OS must have an 
entitlement to do so. The Entitlement Document is delivered to you either with 
a new Sun system, from Sun Services as part of your service agreement, or via 
e-mail when you register your systems for free 
(http://www.sun.com/software/solaris/get.jsp)
through the Sun Download Center.

....

5.    Can I try out Solaris 10 ?

       The Solaris 10 Operating System is available to you at no charge. You 
can download Solaris 10 for free today and start taking advantage of its 
extensive functionality right away.
================================================================================



I hope the above information answers your questions. If not,
please let me know and I will endeavour to get you better
answers.


James C. McPherson
--
Solaris kernel software engineer, system admin and troubleshooter
               http://www.jmcp.homeunix.com/blog
Find me on LinkedIn @ http://www.linkedin.com/in/jamescmcpherson