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Sun offers free Solaris 8/9 OE on DVD

No, we don't know why either

In the week that Sun's StarOffice ceases to be free, the company in its infinite wisdom is running a promo for Solaris whereby you can get a free copy of Solaris OE (version 9 for Sparc, or 8 for Intel) on DVD shipped to you. But we're sure it makes sense to somebody in marketing.

Solaris 8 binaries have been available for free download from Sun for some time, but at somewhere over 850 megabytes it's a bracing experience. Sun will also sell you it on CD for a relatively nominal sum, but the free DVD offer (which appears to be limited, so hurry hurry) will appeal to cheapskates.

Sun, you may be aware, has sort of pulled the plugs on Solaris for Intel, which is why the offer is for 8 for Intel. According to the Solaris download page, however, this is not death but 'deferred productization.' More confusingly still, the same page says downloads of Solaris 8 OE for Intel (the one you can get free on DVD) have been discontinued.

So where do you sign up? The page is here,* and the reg form seems relatively harmless. Although the promise that you'll be hearing shortly from somebody in sales is a bit of a sting in the tail. Thanks to neowin.net and g256.com for spotting this one - we've no idea what route you're really supposed to take to get to the page. ®

* It worked this morning, but now seems not to. We've had a report that this was working, but now it seems it isn't. Probably game over, but we'll let you know if another pops up.

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