Linux luminary is newest Sun OS leader

Sun and Linux have had a complex relationship with one another over the years. As one of the companies whose livelihood was directly threatened by Linux's low-cost, commodity-hardware approach to enterprise server construction, Sun has gone to some lengths over the past decade to differentiate its products from the open-source world, more than occasionally creating friction. On the other hand, Sun has at various times been supportive of Linux and open source development generally, and has absorbed Linux-based technologies, such as the purchase of rival Linux-based server manufacturer Cobalt.

Now, Sun is turning to the Linux community to provide new leadership for its Solaris operating system development. Ian Murdock, the man who puts the "ian" in the Debian Linux distribution, has taken a position with Sun as chief operating platforms officer. Murdock's blog says his mandate is to "head up operating system platform strategy" without delving into specifics. Neither Murdock nor Sun disclosed who he would report to in the organization. His agenda is not yet clear, although he recently agitated for Sun to adopt more open-source licensing in its Solaris product.

Debian is seen as being "more open" than some of the other high-profile Linux distributions such as Red Hat and Novell/SuSE, with Murdock and other Debian leaders taking a stricter line against closed-source or otherwise proprietary technologies being included in core operating system construction. To take the position with Sun, Murdock leaves behind his post as CTO of the newly-formed Linux Foundation (he had previously acted as CTO of one of its progenitors), although he will continue as chairman of the foundation's Linux Standard Base body.

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