ZDNet is reporting that Sun will attempt to one-up Linux vendors and Microsoft by eliminating licensing fees. To compete with Microsoft and Linux, Sun is expected to announce opening up the source of Solaris 8 during its unveiling. Interestingly, Ed Zander, Sun's president emphasizes that Sun will never adopt Linux as its operating system. [In my opinion, this strategy is close, but no cigar. Even if Sun were to completely open source Solaris, it would still have to grab mindshare away from Linux. Linux is simply too potent a force to stop or even slow. By the time Sun realizes this, it will be too late for them. In my mind, perhaps the only strategy that might work is if Sun folded all of the improvements of Solaris into Linux. Give to the open source community freely. Then their technology would "influence" major aspects of the Linux kernel and Sun would gain a lot of respect from the open source crowd for their efforts. It is sheer stupidity to think than any one company can compete against the entire Linux Internet community.]