Sun Should Use apt (by Jeremy Zawodny)
Its not about the drivers, or lack of them. What’s important to developers? Easy package management. I want to do something – make it so. What’s really important to sysadmins – easy package management.
That’s where apt-get comes in: its basically a simple command line that just gets all the necessary components to support a particular task. Say you want the Mozilla platform suite:
# apt-get install mozilla
and that’s it. all necessary components installed. Its all about simplicity and interdependency.
Look out enterprise, here comes Debian. It will make your life easier. apt-get could even underpin a “workable LSB”.
ISVs are beginning to realise the Debian opportunity for exactly that rreason. Who wants to be beholden to Red Hat?
apt-get is for people that want simple stuff that works. What do I know though? I use Windows, which is an interdependency nightmare. Could Debian be on the verge of bringing the pain not just to Red Hat, Solaris and SuSe but also to Windows? When a perceived weakness becomes a core platform strength the landscape can change. SOA and SaaS are going to need modular platforms as underpinnings.
Sun says it is working on the package management problem, but don’t big vendors always say that? Sun needs to get something out there, “fully supported” as Jeremy says. Stephen has been lobbying Sun for a while on the issue. We know Tim Bray concurs.
Debian distros: set to bring the pain to hairball operating systems, or at least force them to up their game.
disclaimers: Sun is a client, Microsoft is an occasional customer.
Debian, apt-get, Solaris, Windows, package management, Ubuntu, Mozilla
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