Paul Krill
Editor at Large

Sun’s Green denies GPL report

news
Jan 17, 20071 min

A high-ranking Sun Microsystems official is denying a published report that the company is set to license its OpenSolaris OS under the GNU General Public License version 3.

“I have to say I was surprised because it just ain’t so,” said Rich Green, executive vice president for software at Sun, in his blog on Wednesday. “This is primarily due to the fact that the terms of GPLv3 aren’t final, thus making it impossible for us to commit to it. It would be like signing a contract with blanks to be filled in later.”

Discussions of Sun utilizing the GPL for Solaris have been going on for several years, apparently. Sun on Tuesday said no decision had been made on the GPL issue and Green’s blog reaffirms that. For the moment, anyway.

Paul Krill

Paul Krill is editor at large at InfoWorld. Paul has been covering computer technology as a news and feature reporter for more than 35 years, including 30 years at InfoWorld. He has specialized in coverage of software development tools and technologies since the 1990s, and he continues to lead InfoWorld’s news coverage of software development platforms including Java and .NET and programming languages including JavaScript, TypeScript, PHP, Python, Ruby, Rust, and Go. Long trusted as a reporter who prioritizes accuracy, integrity, and the best interests of readers, Paul is sought out by technology companies and industry organizations who want to reach InfoWorld’s audience of software developers and other information technology professionals. Paul has won a “Best Technology News Coverage” award from IDG.

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