Sunday, May 2, 2004

GPL'd Solaris? -- 9:18 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

[Before I start, I'd just like to say that I have to laugh whenever anyone, including myself, uses "GPL" as a verb.] According to this InfoWorld article, Sun is at least considering releasing a version of Solaris under the GPL. I'm sure that our man Qbe would be interested in that. Thanks Linux Today.

Sun seems to have a real love/hate relationship with Linux and the GPL. On the one hand, they want to profit from it wherever possible. On the other, they say that the GPL encourages forking and offer Red Hat as evidence of how Linux has been forked. Exqueeze me? Red Hat may not be everyone's idea Linux distro, but it's hardly a fork. I also like the "open source does not mean open standards" comment, as if closed source companies have such an excellent record of transparancy and interoperability. Somewhat in Sun's braintrust (if such a word is even appropriate) really needs to figure out who they are and what direction the company should go.

The Master comments: Well, since Sun accepted an absolutely massive settlement amount from M$ in the last month, they seem to be doing their best to sing the Microsoft party line, and yet not cut themselves off like SCO did. We'll see how long it all lasts.

J.t.Qbe comments: This is kind of ironic--this morning I started downloading Solaris 9 for an old Sparcstation I just got from work. All day today (Monday) I've been trying to think of an upside for Sun in GPLing Solaris but keep coming up short.

On the other hand, Sun desperately needs change to survive (and I do have a very personal interest in Sun's survival). Sun's traditional business has been expensive hardware running Solaris, but many companies (including our department) are finding it cheaper to buy powerful Intel hardware and run Linux than to pay for Sun hardware and support. Java's days are numbered too, I think.

Sun's a big company and has (or had, I should say) a lot of brainpower. However, the glory days of big hardware are passing away and some of the chief brains are gone. If Sun decides to GPL Solaris, it'll probably be hoping that it can transform itself into a Red Hat-like outfit. Sun has a tough road ahead, though, no matter what road it decides to take.

Pondering the Imponderable -- 7:07 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

I've been playing a lot of Onslaught on ONS-RedPlanet. If there's anything more fun than hijacking the other team's Leviathan and using it to take out their base, I don't know what it is.

In sadder news: my personal hero, Stevie Yzerman, is out for the playoffs after taking a puck to the face which scratched his cornea and broke his orbital bone. As it stands, the Wings' playoff run might only last one more game anyway. I fear that this is the last game for one of the greatest hockey players that I've been privileged to witness. I'm having a hard time picturing someone other than Stevie wearing the captain's "C".

Friday, April 30, 2004

CBP2 Coming May 17 -- 4:43 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

The Community Bonus Pack team has announced that CBP2 for Unreal Tournament 2004 will be released on May 17. Check the CBP website for the full announcement. They will also be porting the original CBP to UT2K4, but no firm date has been set for that. Apparently, this is just UT2K4 goodies day. Thanks Planet Unreal.

XMP Coming to UT2K4 -- 4:36 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Free Monkey announced that they have received permission from the former Legend Entertainment to make XMP for Unreal Tournament 2004. XMP is/was the multiplayer component for Unreal II. It's hard to say if this is a direct conversion or if it is more or less "inspired by" XMP. Check Free Monkey's website for more information. They are simply calling it a total conversion for UT2K4. Whatever it will be, it should be interesting. Thanks Beyond Unreal.

Fun with SCO . . . or Something -- 1:09 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Here's a little fun from Groklaw for your reading pleasure. DaimlerChrysler is asking that the court throw out SCO's suit against them on the grounds that they haven't used Unix in seven years. Even at that, they have proof of ownership. Even more fun is the fact that SCO dropped its charge that the GPL is unconstitutional. That was the most completely idiotic accusation they had made in this whole process, which is saying quite a lot. I guess they decided to focus on their core stupidity incompetency.

UT2K4 Patch Soon? -- 11:38 am CST, Update by A.T. Hun

I keep hearing rumblings about a patch for Unreal Tournament 2004 being released soon (possibly even today), but I haven't heard anything concrete or official. I'll keep you posted.

Update! Beyond Unreal got a changelog for the patch, but no ETA. The patch, numbered 3197, has been released as a beta to server ops. They also claim it will eliminate the need for you to have the CD/DVD in your drive to play the game, although I don't see that listed on the changelog. Of course, Linux users never needed that :)

No Old News

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