[ale] LINUX vs. Solaris

[Bobby Krupczak]

Hi!

> Solaris is a commercial OS that enjoys a very wide installed base
> with something like 10,000 applications, making Solaris a preferred
> choice for many users.  While the Solaris Desktop does not include a
> compiler, many people are used to getting gcc off the net and gcc
> is available for Solaris also.  Developers who want a commercial
> development environment can now get SunSoft Visual WorkShop for C++ v2.1.  
> SunSoft Visual WorkShop for C++ once cost $1995 but we are making it 
> available with Solaris 2.5, CDE, Wabi and AnswerBook; all for $895!

The comparisons between the various UNIXes on Intel is interesting.
There was a paper presented at the last USENIX comparing LINUX,
Solaris, and Free/NetBSD.  LINUX did very well.  It addresses some of
the issues above as well as portability, installability, performance,
and support.  The authors' conclusions were that LINUX did very well
in all those categories.  Im a little suspect of the poster's
motivations since he/she includes lots of prices, etc. of products
they are selling.

A URL for the abstract is below.  If your a USENIX member, you can
download the entire paper.

http://www.usenix.org/publications/library/proceedings/sd96/lai.html

I suspect if you dig around at the authors' home site, you can find
the paper there too.

Bobby