OpenSolaris Project Indiana

Conclusion:

While there are all these improvements to OpenSolaris, this wasn't a trouble-free experience. Among the issues we have encountered thus far (in less than 12 hours of the Indiana Preview ISO being available) include wired network interfaces that have been working since early Linux 2.6 kernels still not working "out of the box" with Network Auto Magic, USB flash drive problems, and EDID monitor detection of an LCD's native resolution. When it came to the USB flash drive problems, several flash drives we tested had worked "out of the box" and auto-mounted within GNOME, but for two we had run into "Connecting device on port 4 failed" errors. Speaking of hardware problems, it would also be splendid if there were a "Project Indiana Check Tool" similar to Sun's Solaris Check Tool. In addition to ensuring "grade A" hardware support as Ian Murdock had mentioned back during IDF San Francisco, there's a number of other areas that we hope will be improved as well in the coming months, such as a graphical start process.

After using the Project Indiana / OpenSolaris Developer Preview for the past couple of hours, we are already confident in saying that this is the most consumer-friendly Solaris-based distribution to date (even more so than Nexenta OS or BeleniX). While keeping in mind that this is only a developer preview release, it does lack a charisma. D-Trace, ZFS, etc are all great Solaris features, but how relevant and interesting they are to normal desktop users is very much a different story. There is certainly much potential for Project Indiana / OpenSolaris and so far Ian Murdock and company seem to be doing a great job; however, in H1'2008 when there will be the first official Indiana release, that is where we'll see what Project Indiana is really made of. If you've tried out this developer preview release, be sure to share your thoughts in our Solaris forum.

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