Solaris Central is 1 year old

the SSD Buyers Guide - click to see article

December 1999 - article by Zsolt Kerekes, SPARC Product Directory

Sun Microsystems started its first internet news service way back in 1988. It was called the Florida SunFlash and distributed by email. In fact many of the news services which cover the Sun market also started pre-web including SPARC International's SPARC-FLASH.

During the last few years many independent news services have appeared on the web covering various aspects of the computer systems market. Because I talk to manufacturers directly, often before they write their press releases, I was never very interested in these news sites. But a year ago, I was contacted by Duane Gran who was setting up Solaris Central - an independent site for Sun related software news. I never had enough time to look at the software side of this market. I liked what I saw in Solaris Central , and got hooked. Solaris Central recently passed its first 12 months anniversary. In that short time, it has eclipsed all other sites with the quality and presentation of Sun related software market news for busy readers. Duane is a modest guy and doesn't say too much about his background on the site so I asked him some questions to share with his readers.

Q. = Questions by Zsolt Kerekes - SPARC Product Directory	A. = Answers by Duane Gran - Solaris Central

Q. Duane, most people looking at Solaris Central for the first time probably think it's produced by Sun. It's very slick. But weren't you intimidated by the thought of competing with much bigger news sites when you started?	A. I like to think that the site complements other sites rather than competes. A year ago when I started Solaris Central there were sites with resources, but none with a daily news aspect. The Unix crowd is a tough one, so naturally I expected it to be hard to gain notice and respect, but the response has been very positive.

Q. What were your original plans when you set up the site. And how have these worked out compared to your original ideas.	A. The site originated as a more coherent way of keeping my Solaris bookmarks in order. It quickly became apparent that others may find the information useful, and from this I began considering making a central hub for Solaris/Sun information that isn't sponsored by Sun Microsystems. Ultimately my goal was to learn and to share information, which I think has been very sucessful. I expected with time for more software vendors to seize the oportunity to announce new software versions on the site, however vendor response has been pretty small. This is a continued goal for next year.

Q. Everyone dreams of becoming the next Yahoo. If you were giving advice to someone else thinking of setting up an IT portal, then based on your experience, what mistakes should they avoid, and what factors have been helpful to you?	A. The best advice I can give is to not be like Yahoo. By this, I mean to not try to be everything to everyone. I considered for a short while to do a general Unix resource site, however I had plenty of those bookmarked and didn't see them as the kind of "daily read" that I wanted Solaris Central to become. The strategy of appealing to a small and refined audience is much more effective. Of course, one should clarify what they mean by effective. Solaris Central doesn't rake in extremely high traffic, and it isn't a commercial gem. In light of the original goals to have fun, learn and share, the site is all the better for having a narrow focus. The web has plenty general sites and it needs more havens and niche news portals before we have another monolithic www.allthenewsthatisnews.com .

Q. You're seeing news stories every day. But what are the kind of news stories which leave an impression on you? Can you recall which Sun related news in the last year made you think "Wow..." ?	A. There are several stories which have really gained attention and made me jump when I first read about them: free solaris - This is the one which started it all for me. I had used Solaris for years in an end-user capacity, but this was the first hint that I might be able to really get into it. Shortly afterward I convinced myself to go with a SPARC box instead of Intel. Sun has delivered over 100,000 copies of the educational/development license for Solaris and I am one of many who gained exposure to the platform from it. The first news story on Solaris Central was about Sun getting 10,000 orders for Solaris in the first week of the free offer. ebay scandal - At first I didn't think much of it when Ebay publicly blamed Sun for downtime on their E10000 system, but it quickly snowballed into a big story. From the beginning something smelled strange, and when Microsoft and other companies started publishing anti-Sun FUD over the matter I published an article (http://www.osopinion.com/Opinions/DuaneGran/DuaneGran2.html) to clear up the air. I mostly find this story interesting because I found myself very involved in debunking some claims and setting the record straight. star office/sun ray - Readers have probably sensed that I believe that network computing is going to change the way we think about computing. Sun made everyone nervous and excited all at once when they purchased Star Division. The press were declaring that MS Office had a dedicated competitor and Linux users were worried about the future of the Linux port. Aside from some mixed feelings and fears, this story excited me because Sun really pulled it all together. They filled the missing piece from the JavaStation, namely software. open source - This may not be about a specific story as much as a category of stories. Many are skeptical of Sun's Community Source License, but Sun has taken closed source products like Star Office, the Java platform and Solaris and is releasing the source to the community. This is a bold move for Sun and they have many volunteers to thank who have proven the validity of open source software.

Q. When you're not looking at news sites or Sun stuff, what are your favourite web sites for your personal interests or hobbies (if you have time for any)?	A. Like almost everyone reading this, I visit slashdot.org and appwatch.com daily. Most readers wouldn't guess it, but I also use a Macintosh and I regularly visit macintouch.com and macosrumors.com. For general news I like to read sjmercury.com and washingtonpost.com. I am something of a Unix security enthusiasts, so I read up on the many security resources linked in the /adm (http://www.SolarisCentral.org/adm/) section of Solaris Central. I have a lot of respect for a contemporary Solaris site, sunhelp.org.

Q. Your kind of site invites a lot of reader feedback. Is it useful? And how do you avoid getting overloaded with email?	A. It actually hasn't been too bad. Readers have been very helpful in letting me know what they think of some new design styles I've tried. The feedback is always appreciated, even when it is in disagreement with my editorial position or site layout.

Q. You've made a lot of changes to the site since it started. What are your plans for the future? Anything you can share with us?	A. I won't take all wraps off, but I plan to do more to fulfill the "central" aspect of the site name. My goal is for Solaris admins and users to consider the site to be a central hub for gathering and finding information. This will involve interfaces to real time IRC conferencing and a usenet gateway to comp.unix.solaris.

Q. How do you see the next year going for the Sun market generally, and web sites in particular?	A. For Sun there is nothing but good in their future. Their stock shows no sign of slowing down and the community seems excited about their product releases. I expect the various Sun related web sites to fair well, provided that we don't get burned out on it. ;)

Q. What do you see as the biggest service or product lacking in the Solaris community?	A. Lets face it... my friend's Linux box just looks a lot cooler than my SparcStation. I can reasonably argue that Solaris is better under the hood, but most developers and users want to work on a system that somehow reflects their personality. Solaris and Sun boxes are pegged as the machine you leave in the closet, which is a positive statement, but it reveals a lack of desktop interest in the operating system. Solaris still feels somewhat corporate or utilitarian. I don't expect the DBA, who is concerned with uptime over aesthetics, to take this concern seriously but there are tons of developers who simply find Solaris bland and they move elsewhere. I think the community would be skeptical if Sun tried to get "hip" and spruce up the interface, but I would like to see more cool Solaris desktops. We already know they are the coolest servers in the closet. It's time to do something cool with the desktop.

Thanks Duane. Readers who want to see today's news can go directly to Solaris Central or take a look at other news sources for SPARC readers


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