[rescue] Whither Solaris 10

[Dave McGuire]

On 04/27/2015 09:32 PM, Carl R. Friend wrote:
>>>    Have Oracle stopped development on Solaris 10?  I took a look the
>>> other evening and it seems the last version that's available is from
>>> 2013 -- hardly current.  Is it dead?
>>
>>  I dunno Carl, mine sure doesn't look dead.  Does it really matter if
>> they're still doing releases on that track or not?
> 
>    It depends on one's perspective.  The pure historian in me could
> give a rat's arse (poor rat) as to whether any particular system, OS,
> or architecture is "dead" or not.  Sometimes the dead ones are more
> interesting and useful than "live" ones.  However, if one is doing
> active development work on a software package that one hopes will
> gain further acceptance -- in something other than the GNU/Linux/
> Intel world -- then one would like to have something with a bit of
> traction behind it, and it doesn't seem that Solaris 10 does any
> longer.
> 
>    As has been said regarding the Second Amendment to the US
> Constitution, "You can have these from me when you pry them from my
> cold dead fingers." -- and this applies to my elder hardware and
> software.  However, there's little point in keeping up a current
> development fight against GNU/Linux when there's no industry
> support behind a platform.  I *could* get Icinga running on my
> Intergraph CLIPPER-based kit, but since I may be the only one left
> on the planet who runs such things, it's not the best place to
> devote effort unless it's for love itself.
> 
>    Hence my question.  Sometimes, I know when to walk away.

  I understand your point, but I think this definition of "dead" is
pretty silly.  Solaris 10 is a currently-available, currently-supported
operating system.  Updates were released for it as recently as two weeks
ago.

  Remember, the Solaris world is one of stable production systems that
just sit there and get work done, day after day.  There are several
Solaris 8 (yes, crufty old 8!) systems running at the telco C.O. two
blocks from my facility.  They have no plans to "upgrade" them. (I've asked)

  If you're supporting an OS with some piece of software, it would be a
pretty bad idea to de-support what is likely the most widely-installed
release of that OS, IMO.

                 -Dave

-- 
Dave McGuire, AK4HZ
New Kensington, PA