OpenSolaris.org: An Order of Magnitude More User Participation

Software should improve the more people use it. This can only happen when users are encouraged to cross the imaginary line that separates them from software developers.

This is happening today on OpenSolaris.org, an online community that many Solaris engineers have made their home, along with users, system administrators, technical writers, and anyone who wants to have a stake in building the best operating system on the planet.

Based on a subset of the source code for the Solaris Operating System, the OpenSolaris project is an open source project sponsored by Sun Microsystems, Inc.

Achieving an order of magnitude more user participation means systematically eliminating barriers between producers and consumers, and creating a level playing field where everyone can contribute.

Looking for a particular software feature that doesn't exist yet? On OpenSolaris.org, not only can you talk to the engineers responsible, you can file a bug and contribute your own code towards the new feature. How cool is that?

Openly participating with the engineers who write and use the code is good for everyone. Improvements and new features can show up in future releases of Solaris, such as Nevada. Innovations aren't limited to Solaris — they can appear in other products, too.

Operating systems are typically huge, with lots of specialized "moving parts," like the kernel, printing, file systems, networking, and more. Regardless of your speciality, chances are you can find people with like interests on OpenSolaris.org. The community is organic — it grows to accomodate people's needs. Leaders form naturally, and anyone can follow or "observe" discussions, events and news for a given speciality area.

Participants are making physical connections, too. For example, Sun engineers are meeting up with OpenSolaris.org users co-developers at conferences such as LISA.

OpenSolaris.org shows that the participation age just isn't a buzzword at Sun — it's what the OpenSolaris community is living and practicing every day.

Discovering the Aquarium, A GlassFish Community

A community is a place where people come to discuss like interests, meet new friends, and support one another. On My Sun Connection, we actively promote online communities by featuring discussions on the Sun Developer Network, a buzzing, thriving site where Sun engineers contribute daily.

We're always on the lookout for new communities of folks using Sun products and technologies, and we've discovered a beauty — The Aquarium.

Based on GlassFish, a free, open source application server using Java technology, the Aquarium is a group blog, with writing and editing duties shared by several contributors.

The Aquarium is a great place to learn about:

• Open Source
  
• Application Servers
  
• Java EE 5
  
• J2EE, Web Services
  
• XML
  
• Java WSDP
  
• AJAX
  
• Databases
  
• Blueprints
  

User tagging, or folksonomy, where normal human beings get decide how to label and organize things, is popular on The Aquarium. The site is updated regularly with new entries, with tags you can use to explore topics and learn something new and different.

The site claims it has "nothing to do with fish." That may be so, but I'm sure many developers will be easily "hooked" by all the useful tutorials, tips, downloads and stories found on The Aquarium.