Open Solaris, like Linux but with bureaucrats

2007-06-15 18:23:00

Two things before I start this rant:

1. I'm not overly familiar with the OGB and the Open Solaris project's modus operandi. I'm going to bone up on those subjects tonight.

2. It seems that the dutch branch of the OS project doesn't even notice much of the OGB's dealings. When I asked one of "our" leading guys about some recent dealings he hadn't actually even heard of them yet.

Now... On with the show.

When it comes to the Open Solaris project I'm having mixed feelings. On the one hand Solaris and it's step-sister Open Solaris are my favourite "true" UNIX and I really want to see the OS to be a successful one. I feel at home in the OS, I admire the great improvements Sun and the community make to the OS and Solaris has almost never let me down (maybe one or two occasions).

But then there's discussions such as these: a few members of the Open Solaris community propose to build an official binary distribution (dubbed Project Indiana) and they have executive backing from Sun. The first reply is a rather constructive one: it tells what's wrong with the proposal and why it won't be accepted (in it's current form) by the OGB. But then the whole discussion derails with post upon post of bureaucracy, going back and forth about which rules should be applied to whom and what in which situations and at what times... Etc, etc...

While I'm all in favor of having strict project management and of handling your business in a organised and procedural manner, one can go too far. Linux has always felt a little bit too organic to me, although they do seem to get the job done in a rather good way. But the way the Open Solaris group works seems just way too convoluted to me. I hope that it's just a matter of streamlining things over the coming months/years and that things will loosen up a little by then.


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