Alan Pae started with Novell Netware, and then being forced onto SCO Unix, his first foray into the world of Unix was not one of choice. Seeing what it could do compared to other operating systems at the time was, however, a real eye-opener. Unix could easily do things that he simply couldn't do with any other operating systems that he could run. After that, he had a chance to run Lotus Notes on some old SPARC gear as a test pilot program, and became hooked. It's been fun watching the new versions roll and the incremental improvements over the years. Solaris 10 started to break the incremental mold and make some radical changes. Solaris 11 continues in this vein, and for him, it's a much improved operating system.

Brian Craft was introduced to Unix as a graduate student in molecular biology and biochemistry. He took a part-time detour involving SunOS, followed by Solaris 2.5.1, which quickly turned into a full-time distraction. Many years later, Brian finds himself still working with Solaris as a system administrator.