system> sun Microsystems, Inc.' s version of the Unixoperating system. As well as the core operating system, solaris inludes networking software, the {Java Virtual Machine}, the {CDE}/Desktop that includes an {X11}-based windowing environment and graphical user interface. sun claim that solaris is not just an operating system but an "operating environment". solaris 1.x was a retroactive (marketing?) name for sunOs 4.1.x (where x>=1). solaris 2.x (which is the first version most people call "solaris") includessunOs5.x, which is an sVR4-derived Unix, OpenWindows 3.x, and tooltalk. Version 2.7 ("solaris 7") was around in 1999-03-02. Version 2.8 was released in June 2000. Current version: 9, as of 2002-07-15. start . (2002-07-15)