OpenSolaris started life as an open-source version of Sun's venerable and well-respected Unix-based operating system Solaris. Since its first proper release over a year ago, it has moved forward by leaps and bounds, and the latest release, 2009.06, brings the OS right up to the cutting edge.
It uses the Gnome desktop, and most popular software packages that are found on standard Linux distros have versions for OpenSolaris, including OpenOffice.org, Firefox, and so forth. As with Linux, most, if not all, of the software you'll need is free and open-source with OpenSolaris.
Image courtesy of OpenSolaris.com. See link for large, full-resolution image.
The new Package Manager--OpenSolaris's "one stop shop" for software--is even easier to use, and OpenSolaris's SourceJuicer will now make it even easier for developers to submit new software for testing and inclusion in the OpenSolaris repository.
Image courtesy of OpenSolaris.com. See link for large, full-resolution image.
OpenSolaris 2009.06 comes with a GUI for Time Slider, a program that takes snapshots of your hard drive for backup and retrieval purposes, similar to Apple's Time Machine.
Image courtesy of OpenSolaris.com. See link for large, full-resolution image.
On the hardware front, 2009.06 now supports a greater number of drivers, including more wifi drivers and many new video drivers for nVidia, ATI, IBM, and Sun video chipsets. For those designing and managing complicated networks, OpenSolaris's Crossbow can now virtualize many functions that previously would have required specialized networking hardware, meaning that cheaper, commodity hardware can be used instead.
The last version, 2008.11, came (and still does come) preinstalled on Toshiba Tecra® M10 and Portégé® R600 laptops. OpenSolaris 2009.06 will be available preinstalled on even more systems as the weeks and months roll on.
If you are keen to give OpenSolaris 2009.06 a try, you can download a LiveCD for free from OpenSolaris.com.
The OpenSolaris LiveCD works the same as it does for most popular Linux distros. You download the image, burn it to a CD, boot from it and run it in Live mode so that you can see if everything on your system is supported before you consider installing the OS. The LiveCD is only available for x86 and x64 formats. However, if you've got new or older SPARC hardware, be sure to grab the SPARC install CD instead!
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