China--Sun Microsystems continues its tilt toward the open-source world.
The company's president and chief operating officer, Jonathan Schwartz, said here Wednesday that Sun plans to give its proprietary Solaris server operating system an open-source flavor, but he declined to give a timetable for the shift. "I don't want to say when that will happen," Schwartz said in a press conference in conjunction with the company's SunNetwork conference. "But make no mistake: We will open-source Solaris."
The declaration is another indication of the company's grudging acknowledgment of the rising popularity of open-source software such as Linux, which presents an opportunity for Sun to undercut rival software maker Microsoft but also poses a competitive threat to Sun itself. On the opportunity side, Sun this week released a second edition of its Java Desktop System, its version of Linux for desktop computers, which reproduces some features of Microsoft Windows.
News source: C|Net News.com
The company's president and chief operating officer, Jonathan Schwartz, said here Wednesday that Sun plans to give its proprietary Solaris server operating system an open-source flavor, but he declined to give a timetable for the shift. "I don't want to say when that will happen," Schwartz said in a press conference in conjunction with the company's SunNetwork conference. "But make no mistake: We will open-source Solaris."
The declaration is another indication of the company's grudging acknowledgment of the rising popularity of open-source software such as Linux, which presents an opportunity for Sun to undercut rival software maker Microsoft but also poses a competitive threat to Sun itself. On the opportunity side, Sun this week released a second edition of its Java Desktop System, its version of Linux for desktop computers, which reproduces some features of Microsoft Windows.
News source: C|Net News.com
What's New in This Release:
· [+] Mail Chat (Tools|Mail Chat)
· [+] Chat Virtual folders for watching conversation threads or waiting for replies to specific messages
· [+] "Utilities|Create a Quick Template" menu command in the message editor to quickly create a QT based on the selected text
· [+] (#0001869) New Window Split Mode - Full-width Message List
· [+] Automatic filtering on IMAP
· [+] Customizable hotkeys for next/prev folder tab (Edit shortcuts/MainMenu/Specials)
· [+] It is now possible to re-filter only selected messages
· [+] Message Editor (using MicroEd) has new status - AutoFormat, AutoWrap, JustifyOnWrap, AutoSpell
· [+] Possibility to insert a line divider in HTML editor
· [+] URLs of incoming messages are added to the log
· [+] Possibility to open URLs by double click from the account's log viewer
· [+] Smartpad.ini: [Options] Taskbar = 1 - shows smartpad in taskbar
· [+] Support of ImagesPDSF.MSL file for translating smileys (see the Beta distribution file)
· [+] VF message DblClk - opens VF folder view; Ctrl+DblClk - Follows message; Shift+DblClk - opens folder view
· [+] Viewing account's log window is no longer modal
·
· [ * ] (#0002992) UTF-7/8 decoding is now much faster
· [ * ] It is now possible to log manual refiltering
· [ * ] Search options in the Accont Log View pop-up menu
· [ * ] The current folder was removed from the Unread tab when new mail was received
· [-] (#0001633) Character set detection bug in PGP/MIME messages
· [-] (#0001742) Unread messages were loaded and treated as read during refiltering process
· [-] (#0002259) Embedded image files were multiplicated at each [auto] save
· [-] (#0002653) Account tree nodes' states were not stored correctly
· [-] (#0002673) Selected shortcuts for Send/Queue in the message editor weren't remembered
· [-] (#0002716) Access Violation error while search in a deleted folder
· [-] (#0002764) The "l" LDAP attribute was not processed
· [-] (#0002922) Deleted messages counters were not updated in the Folder Maintenance Centre
· [-] (#0002951) Access Violation error when selecting folders for search in message reminder
· [-] (#0002955) Generic view mode setting is not saved, previous setting is used after restart
· [-] (#0002972) Account tree expand, when you open the account properties
· [-] (#0002997) Split mode - full width msg list - msg preview toggle one way
· [-] (#0003005) Virtual Folders think they're Normal Folders is VF name and Directory are not the same
· [-] (#0003026) Option "Edit | Select all" doesn't work in HTML editor, Ctrl+A works
· [-] (#0003027) MessageFinder does not "Follow"
· [-] (#0003038) Using "IMAP Folder management" deletes account level VFs
· [-] IMAP folder management could fail to see some folders on some IMAP servers
· [-] No duplicates of message in chat folders
· [-] Some other minor fixes
This has good and bad things. The bad is that we'll need to deal with Sun until they kick the bucket. The good is that Solaris can continue to be developed, or just "used for parts" to be put into Linux, if Sun's license is GPL compatible.
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