By Chris Gonsalves

June 12, 2007 -- Developers focused on building Solaris and Java technology-based applications now have access to the leading edge of Solaris innovation along with a host of new tools and utilities thanks to the first quarterly update of Sun's popular Solaris Express Developer Edition (SXDE) 5/07.

Solaris Express Developer Edition 5/07 is an OpenSolaris-based distribution for x86 that includes the latest tools, technologies, and platforms to create applications for Solaris OS and the Java Application Platform. Available as a free, easy-to-install download, SXDE is regularly updated to incorporate new functionality to help application developers create better applications faster.

The new version of SXDE brings together the latest open source GNOME desktop environment improvements along with access to many tools and features not yet available in Solaris 10 OS.

"Developers are on laptops or x86 based systems--that's why we've made those platforms the primary focus for Solaris Express Developer Edition," says Sun product marketing manager Jeff McMeekin. "Installation has been streamlined; the developer tools are automatically installed. All in all, you go from DVD in hand to to first compile in under an hour."

Major and Significant Changes

The updated SXDE includes the latest versions of Solaris OS, NetBeans, and Java technology, as well as the just-released Sun Studio 12 compilers which radically simplify multicore application development. Sun Studio 12 builds upon a legacy of industry-recognized, record-setting performance benchmarks, provides world-class compilers and tools for multithreaded application development, and supplies a complete development toolset for the both Solaris and Linux platforms.

The SXDE release also includes improved wireless chipset support and the first phase of a project for automatic network configuration dubbed Network Auto-Magic.

"These are major and significant changes," says McMeekin. "We held off on delivering this latest release for a couple of weeks so we could include the new Sun Studio 12 compilers. That shows the real value SXDE delivers with regard to the latest tools and technology. Sun is totally committed to the enterprise server market, but with these networking additions we want to also demonstrate our commitment to the sorts of systems developers use."

New Open Source Advancements

Sun first released SXDE in February 2007 to keep developers up to speed on open source advances, especially improvements to the desktop. Where Solaris 10 remains focused on rock-solid stability and enterprise-class features, SXDE lets developers experience updated sound, video, and network device drivers, improved USB functionality, and greater attention to developers' own desktop environments. McMeekin points out that while many of these improvements will ultimately be added to future Solaris 10 updates, "you will usually see them first in an SXDE release."

SXDE, which is updated quarterly, includes all the current features of Solaris 10 such as DTrace, Solaris Containers, and ZFS along with development tools such as the NetBeans IDE with Enterprise Pack and the Visual Web Pack Java Platform. The SXDE distribution also includes more than 150 open source applications. The latest AMP stack optimized for Solaris is also available as a separate download, though Sun plans to integrate AMP into SXDE in a future release, McMeekin says.

The latest SXDE distribution also includes:

• StarOffice 8 Office Suite
• Firefox Browser
• Mozilla Thunderbird e-mail client
• Xorg server 7.2
• GNOME Desklets, a set of useful add-ons, such as clocks, calendars, newfeeds, music, weather, and so forth.

The result is an extremely productive environment for developing Solaris and Java-based applications. For those developers creating Solaris-based applications, Sun recommends taking advantage of the latest tools and desktop improvements by developing on SXDE, then building and deploying apps on Solaris 10.