RE: [cobalt-developers] raq os in vmware

["Matthew Nuzum" <cobalt@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>     How much is your time worth?
> 	http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2017959667
> 	http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2017868592
> 
>     As for license issues, of course you can do anything you
>     want with the GPL pieces, but if you look closely you'll
>     see that much of the rest of the system is restricted.
>     IANAL, but I'm pretty sure our corporate counsel would say
>     that vmware would violate the license.
> 
Thanks for the links.  As far as how much is my time worth?  Well, a
vmware solution would be more valuable than a single server, if for no
other reason than the previously mentioned restore times.

It seems to me that I read an announcement from Sun that talked about a
software only license for the Cobalt OS.  Is this vapor or do you think
we'd be able to license the software separately from the server?  If so,
do you think us developers would be able to get special pricing and/or
early access?

Also, didn't Cobalt (maybe pre Sun) once have a program that allowed
developers access to various hardware platforms for testing PKG files?
Is that still around?

I don't know what Sun's attitude toward VMWare is, but if a workable
solution existed to emulate a Raq or Qube server on a virtual computer,
it sounds like something SUN could use to promote the cobalt line.  As a
matter of fact, they could release it under a similar license to Forte
community edition or Oracle's Developer edition; Allow access for
development use only.  A special ISO could be downloaded from the
developer website for just this purpose.

I know it's hard to put a software product that is a valuable company
asset out into this cruel world without protection from people copying
it willy-nilly.  However we've seen a lot of examples where companies
have made their products easier to develop for and benefited greatly in
return.  A copy of VMWare costs $300.  That combined with a free
Sun/Cobalt developer connection membership and a 300MB download would be
able to lower the barriers to developers for the Cobalt platform. 

Matthew Nuzum
www.bearfruit.org
cobalt@xxxxxxxxxxxxx