[csw-users] Why support Solaris 8 onwards?

[Steven Stallion]

All,

Everyone has brought up interesting and valid points on both sides of
the fence. Just like all of you, I most definitely have my own opinions
on the matter.

Interestingly enough, I was reflecting on days past when Solaris 8 was
first released.

I was a very happy Solaris 7 user; my sun4m was running in its prime.
Any extra bit of software I needed was provided either by Sun or
sunfreeware. If there was anything left over, It was a simple matter to
compile it by hand; Linux was not as popular, and OSS software was still
relatively easy to port.

Like most early adopters, I eagerly installed Solaris 8 onto my work
station. I was floored; the comparative performance was abysmal, the
software offerings almost negligible, and the release brought along yet
more API changes.

I recall thinking the exact same thing many of you have before "If it's
not broke, why fix it?". I rolled back to Solaris 7 and stayed there for
quite some time.

Eventually I moved on to Solaris 8. The performance was still wretched,
but at the very least there was ample 3rd party software available for
use. It was a forced migration, and not a very pleasant one.

This was almost 10 years ago.

--
Yet magic and hierarchy
arise from the same source,
and this source has a null pointer.

Reference the NULL within NULL,
it is the gateway to all wizardry.