[eraker]

I like Debian, but I often don't feel I understand enough to really understand what's happening or where it's going.

I read this today (linked at slashdot):
http://www.linuxformat.co.uk/murdockint.html

And then, down in the comments, is a post from Ian Murdoch saying that he's joining Sun (here's his announcement, if you didn't see it):

Hi all,

It's being announced today that I'm joining Sun as chief operating
platforms officer, which basically means I'll be in charge of Sun's
operating system strategy, spanning Solaris and Linux. I just posted the
announcement on my blog (http://ianmurdock.com/2007/03/19/joining-sun/),
and it'll likely be making the rounds soon. Just wanted to
make sure you heard the news directly from me and to introduce myself.

First things first: I'm a long time Linux user, developer, and advocate.
I founded Debian in 1993, co-founded a Linux distribution company called
Progeny in 1999, and most recently served as CTO of the new Linux
Foundation, where I was (and still am) chair of the LSB, the Linux
platform interoperability standard. I'm also a long time Sun fan.

As for what I'll be doing: While I'm coming in with some fairly formed
opinions about what Sun/Solaris/OpenSolaris ought to do (peruse my
blog a bit to learn more), I'm also a big believer in listening
before talking, and I have a lot of listening to do in the weeks
to come. So, please, feel free to drop me a line if you have
anything to tell me. And, please, be gentle while I get settled.

Gotta get on a call in a few minutes. In the meantime, I just wanted
to say hello, and to make sure you heard the news directly from me.

Later,

-ian
--
Ian Murdock
http://ianmurdock.com/ [ianmurdock.com]



Any opinions on what this means for Debian?

[antidrugue]

Originally Posted by eraker

Any opinions on what this means for Debian?

In my humble opinion, it doesn't mean anything for Debian.

Just think about this : Ian Murdock uses Ubuntu and Mozilla Firefox (see this screenshot on his flickr account for a proof of this) on his personal computer. So much for Debian and Iceweasel.

Then again, I very much respect the man, and I think it is great for both Sun and him that he now works for Sun Microsystems.

[harner]

Yes, good for him. It's not like he's going pro-MS. Sun definitely picked a good candidate for the job IMO.

[Vergil83]

We could get big time in to conspiracy theories.

Since solaris may be released under GPL 3 and the linux kernel isn't, Debian will switch from being a mainly Linux OS to use the Solaris kernel by default.

[jens]

Originally Posted by Vergil83

We could get big time in to conspiracy theories.

Since solaris may be released under GPL 3 and the linux kernel isn't, Debian will switch from being a mainly Linux OS to use the Solaris kernel by default.

That idea actually already exists a few years.
Having two (Free Software) kernels to run Debian makes it even beter
I'm still no fan for a BSD port cause of their commercially minded license.(I'm not sure if that project still exists though).

Hopefully, Ian will finally earn some well deserved money

[Vergil83]

Originally Posted by jens

I'm still no fan for a BSD port cause of their commercially minded license.(I'm not sure if that project still exists though).

They are still alive. I was surprised to see them in one of the DPL platforms
http://www.debian.org/vote/2007/platforms/stratus