Open Source Revolution and Sun's Contribution
In past few years, the significance of Open Source is quite vivid. The time when it started, it was seen as an orphan, of which many people thought , will last for a day or two.
Now that most of the Big IT & Software firms are contributing to it has changed the face of software distribution and development.
In recent years , Sun Microsystems has emerged as the biggest contributor for Open source.
Though , the business policy of Sun Microsystems is quite open (In terms of Platform) from the very beginning, but the best view came when it OpenSourced its Most popular product : Java.
Right after that, in a big move , it opensourced almost all its major technologies , including Sparc,
J2EE, and the Flagship Product Solaris and Open Office.
These moves were promptly accepted by communities, and in a short span of time , these communities have emerged as the fastest growing communities.
In just a year, They have rolled out OpenSolaris (and Indiana). And what Opensolaris is is not new to us. [Though I must remind , opensolaris is the 2nd best destro after Ubuntu as claimed by a reputed IT magazine].
And if you are still unaware of it , just order a live CD/DVD distribution, run & Install it , and believe it.
Once a very popular LAMP is now SAMP [solaris complementing Linux].
Mysql :Mysql and its popularity is well known. And as last year, when Sun Overtook it, its reputation increased many fold.[thats one reason sun bought it]. Sun got the ownership and Open source received its biggest reward.
Some of the Sun's biggest contribution to open source being
NetBeans
Glassfish
OpenSSo
OpenSolaris
Directory Server
Java
Open Office
Mysql
and many more.
Sun's contribution has made the Open Source the really dependable solution in recent time.
Now they have a truly enterprise standard line of product , from utility to some of the most advanced
products.
Currently there are more than 50 [and mostly open sourced] J2EE complaint Application Servers
in use. And most of them are taken care by Big Brands like Sun, Oracle, IBM etc.
The problem with Propitiatory software is obvious.At those time , there were no option.