Heavy duty UNIX OS Solaris, the brainchild of Sun (who also brought you Java!) is ready to be made open source. Sun Microsystems have confirmed that the source code should be available by the end of the month.
Sun has been intending to make Solaris open source for some time, but has been delaying the actual release due to licensing issues. Now, the Open Source Initiative (OSI) has approved Sun's licence, paving the way for today's announcement. The open source status of Solaris will make it possible for enterprise users like to have a say about the direction the development of the operating system, and the company hopes that the move will help Solaris to compete with Linux better.