Global Strategy and Business

Sun Microsystems will next month stop shipping solaris Express Community Edition which has been mirroring opensolaris releases.This is planned to be merged into the code base of a new Opensolaris release 2010.02 . The latest test builds include offline IPS (Image Packaging System),a new gnome stack reflecting the release of the new Gnome3 desktop, ZFS enhancements, integration of cloud, and installation improvements for SPARC chip users.Details of other updates and releases have not yet been released but should include new gnome features, firerfox updates,cloud integration, and X.org packages. Openbabel have created two new wallpapers under creative personal license to celebrate the release.

It is not the innovation and design that interests me but the trend this mini laptop sets in motion.The specification with reported ARM capability does seem suitable for Opensolaris . The interesting features to note for Opensolaris users is Telecom convergence, hot plugging of Sim cards, and integrated wireless modem. Sony is reported to be not far behind in releasing a similar machine and believe most manufacturers including Toshiba will come out with product offerings in this class soon perhaps mobile ready with touch screen.The question for the Opensolaris community is; given this represents what the next generation of notebook will look like of next year should the Opensolaris community development strategy be to focus on Telco /screen/wireless modem hardware support to ease adoption in what is the fastest growing IT market segment? This is an interesting shift to reducing the capital barriers for entry into the lower end hardware market through mass manufacturing techniques ....