Sun bows to user groups

Following months of speculation that Sun is planning to resuscitate its Solaris operating system for the Intel platform, the company has finally clarified its position, saying Solaris 9 for x86 hardware would be available within the next two months. TheRegister reports that the version expected out within the next four to eight weeks will be an early version and full versions are expected to start shipping in January 2003. The re-release of Solaris for Intel platforms is something of a victory for x86 users who have lobbied the company for its reinstatement after Sun terminated the platform at the beginning of this year. Over the past year users have done everything to convince the company to reinstate x86 Solaris, including setting up a Web site at save-solaris-x86.org and placing adverts in newspapers around the world urging the powers that be to reconsider. Sun VP John Loiacono says: "The announcement earlier this year that we might not be able to continue with Solaris 9 x86 caused a huge upheaval, and people wanted an answer sooner than we could give it to them ... [but] we always said we would continue to talk to the community and find a viable business model that would support it unbundled. We`ve now done that." [TheRegister]

SACM reports that processor company Intel has released software that allows developers to build interactive 3D graphics that correctly model the way light reflects off real objects and surfaces. The software, based on Intel`s light field mapping technology, models the reflective properties of light interacting with 3D objects. The company has made the software available for free to developers as part of its open source LFM toolkit, Open Light Fields. Under the licence, developers can use the code as is or modify it for use in their applications. The company says it has been working with graphics hardware vendors to ensure that the software is compatible with its hardware, and is also working with 3D scanning companies to create affordable sources for LFM-compatible 3D images.

IBM is ready to take the wraps off its next operating system release for the pSeries server, AIX 5L. CBROnline reports that the company is planning to announce the release tomorrow. This is the same day IBM is expected to announce AIX5.2, which brings dynamic logical partitioning to the Regatta server range. The company is also expected to announce a number of new I/O devices for its pSeries 660 S-Star servers but it is not expected to include Power4-II processors in this announcement. [CBROnline]