Question:
Originally Posted by Renato Just curious. I loaded Solaris 10 into my PC once, as it came for free on my computer magazine's DVD. It worked, but I wasn't really sure what to do with it - is there any software available for it?
Renato www.sunfreeware.com is a good place to start. Also there is a ton of open source software that runs on it. SourceForge is a good place to look.
Firefox is available, but it's not kept completely up to date.
www.openoffice.org is a freeware office suite from Sun.
Just to posit a hypothetical, you could run an apache-php-mysql webserver on it.
If you're a novice to intermediate computer user and don't have any unix/linux background, it probably would be frustrating to use as a primary box. They're trying to change that, but the project to bring a WINE-like functionality (running windows programs under unix, it started in the Linux open source community) is running way behind.
I've been working on Sun systems for sixteen years now, so my perspective is a bit different.

Answer:
Originally Posted by radix023 www.sunfreeware.com is a good place to start. Also there is a ton of open source software that runs on it. SourceForge is a good place to look.
Firefox is available, but it's not kept completely up to date.
www.openoffice.org is a freeware office suite from Sun.
Just to posit a hypothetical, you could run an apache-php-mysql webserver on it.
If you're a novice to intermediate computer user and don't have any unix/linux background, it probably would be frustrating to use as a primary box. They're trying to change that, but the project to bring a WINE-like functionality (running windows programs under unix, it started in the Linux open source community) is running way behind.
I've been working on Sun systems for sixteen years now, so my perspective is a bit different. You sound very experienced like my friend who only uses Linux and won't touch Windows on principle. Experienced people such as you and him can make such operating systems hum and do just about anything, while people like me flounder and give up.
Also, despite all the numerous books on Linux around, I've noticed that just about every one I've picked up fell into two categories,
a. How to use KDE, Gnome etc - which were pretty simple (since if you know Windows, you can use KDE and Gnome without reading the book), or
b. How to run an Apache server etc - way beyond anything I'll ever do.
I couldn't find anything relatively inbetween - but essential - like lots of examples on how to get your modem, sound card, scanner or DVD Writer to run, after you'd located the software that was supposed to do it.
Renato
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Well, I've had the chance to play with Windows Vista.
My immediate impression - how come I have to push so many buttons with all these weird permission things popping up, when in the past one mouse click would suffice?
Renato

Answer:
I'm going to hang fire on Vista until spring 2008. That's when my employers tell me they will have Vista as the OS on all work computers.
I have the old version of Windows Explorer at work and the new one at home and spend all sorts of time with my mouse whizzing across the screen and shouting 'Where the fug are my Favourites?'.

Answer:
Originally Posted by Renato Well, I've had the chance to play with Windows Vista.
My immediate impression - how come I have to push so many buttons with all these weird permission things popping up, when in the past one mouse click would suffice?
Renato Apple is airing a really funny commercial here in the States that talks exactly about what you are thinking about. Go to http://www.apple.com/getamac and see the commercial "Security".

Answer:
Originally Posted by MFfan310 Apple is airing a really funny commercial here in the States that talks exactly about what you are thinking about. Go to http://www.apple.com/getamac and see the commercial "Security". I'm getting really annoyed. I click on "Security" and it keeps telling me to download Quicktime 7.1.3 - which is already on my computer. I did uninstall that annoying Itunes program that came with it - which kept jumping up and trying to help me, when I didn't want it.
Renato

Answer:
If you want to have Windows and Linux, that can be done on a Windows machine, too - you set it up for dual-booting. I used to do that, because the idea of a more stable operating system (Linux) appealed to me. However, I wasn't using Linux very much, and I finally dumped it. One big annoyance was that the Linux driver I needed for my video card would not let me use the resolution I wanted.
I figure that Linux distributions must have come a long way by now towards easier usability. But I would bet that it still requires a more technical user unless you're really doing the bare minimum, such as using a web browser, email, and some typical office applications. If you have any unusual hardware, good luck getting drivers for it.
If you're a gamer (I'm definitely not), games are notoriously finicky about both hardware and the operating system being used. I understand that Vista has broken many games (and loads of other apps, too). Obviously the gaming software companies will shore this up, but it may be awhile.
Mac is now built on a Linux core, so if I were going in that direction, that's what I would do. I've dragged my feet on that mainly because of the need (largely in the past) of using proprietary Windows software, crud like Lotus Notes [holds nose in disgust]. Also, I've made a lot of money working on Windows-related software, so I've made my deal with the devil. I still may switch to Mac.
In the meantime, I'm not going anywhere near Vista for the foreseeable future. I have XP working pretty smoothly, and I dislike giving one penny to Microsoft insofar as I can avoid it.

Answer:
Originally Posted by Cognoscento
Mac is now built on a Linux core, Ahem, Mac is built on a BSD Unix core. Linux is a different animal.

Answer:
Not to get too pedantic, but it's Mach, not BSD.
Remember the three flavors of unix:
AT&T System 5
Berkeley BSD
Carnegie Mellon Mach
Sorry to get so geekish, but it has been my career for nearly two decades.

Answer:
Originally Posted by radix023 Not to get too pedantic, but it's Mach, not BSD.
Remember the three flavors of unix:
AT&T System 5
Berkeley BSD
Carnegie Mellon Mach
Sorry to get so geekish, but it has been my career for nearly two decades. I thought it was a hybrid of Mach and BSD??

Answer:
Ahem, you're right Eluard, it's part FreeBSD, part Mach. Considering Mach was developed as a kernel replacement for BSD, it's not hard to see how it would fit in. BSD has code in the kernel and higher level programming, while Mach only has code in the kernel.
- Rich