Sun Microsystems, one of the leading Unix Operating System vendors, plans to revamp its Solaris Operating System to include more Linux features to enhanced the Solaris kernel.

The revamped Solaris system will have features borrowed from Linux that could make it easier to use, correspondence on Sun’s Web site shows.

“This is a big deal to the extent that it lowers the barrier for adoption of Solaris,” said IDC software analyst Al Gillen.

The new system will keep the Solaris kernel, which is a basic group of code at the heart of the operating system that controls the way other programs interact with each other as well as the computer’s hardware.

“Solaris is hard to set up. It doesn’t have good hardware support,” said Ladislav Bodnar, founder of Distrowatch.com, a Web site that reviews open-source software. “The hope is that things may change.”

Sun executives declined to comment in advance of a formal unveiling next week of the plans, called Project Indiana.