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Mad Hatter Preview - Sun Java Desktop System Demo

bengine writes "According to this article, Sun Java Desktop System is a good product overall, built on the well-established SuSE system with integration from Sun. It delivers what appears to be a very useful desktop OS and it has the chance to make a dent in the Windows monopoly. But Sun will have to differentiate itself on its quality, hardware, services and reputation. That means a lot of hard work, so the key questions will be how well they execute their strategy, how much public acceptance they gain and what message they convey through public venues." This makes a good companion to the earlier story linking to Mad Hatter screenshots.

11 of 220 comments (clear)

  1. It's still GNOME. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Why is there a need to preview so many GNOME Desktops under different name ? GNOME is GNOME no matter what company forks it. As soon as GNOME 2.6 comes out SUN, Ximian or Red Hat gonna fork it again for their Desktop. So if you want to know how each new GNOME looks like then please go and look inside the real GNOME and not some lame forks which changes anyways as soon as the core releases a new version.

    1. Re:It's still GNOME. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      ah, but those forks by professsional companies will have that clean and polished look and feel to them and not some kludge some by script kiddie.

      not to mention documentation is likely to be improved.

    2. Re:It's still GNOME. by swordboy · · Score: 4, Insightful

      GNOME is GNOME no matter what company forks it.

      Ummm... No...

      Big Businesses want other Big Businesses to back their software. You won't see any announcements from GM stating that they've decided to run Linux From Scratch or Gentoo. With Sun, you've got a reputable brick-and-mortar establishment to go to when it breaks.

      Unfortunately for Sun, they are quickly losing their big-business reputation. This is their last hope, IMHO.

      Off topic - if Apple were to port OSX to X86 commodity hardware, I'm sure that we'd have a lot of businesses jumping on board - especially in the light of the "Homogenous Windows Environments Are Bad" article. It just makes good sense.

      --

      Life is the leading cause of death in America.
    3. Re:It's still GNOME. by Disevidence · · Score: 2, Insightful

      If sun wants to customise GNOME, why stop them? Its not the end of the world when someone forks a open-source project.

      --
      Think nothing is impossible? Try slamming a revolving door.
    4. Re:It's still GNOME. by Ender+Ryan · · Score: 2, Insightful
      Lol, yeah, those GNOME developers sure are a bunch of script kiddies!

      Whoever modded the parent "Insightful" needs a severe beating...

      --
      Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken - Tyler Durden
  2. Java? by Dreadlord · · Score: 5, Insightful

    When I read the article for the first time I thought it was an OS that most of its apps are Java or something, but it turned out to be a Linux distro, with the most common Linux apps (GNOME, Mozilla, Evolution)
    Anyway, it still looks like a good choice for desktops, I think I'll try to test it as soon as it's available.

    --
    The IT section color scheme sucks.
  3. Star Office by matchlight · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The author states The Open Office Team and the Sun Microsystems developers must be working in Tandem to make their suites more accessible to the public. but from the Open Office website:
    StarDivision, the original author of the StarOffice suite of software, was founded in Germany in the mid-1980s. It was acquired by Sun Microsystems during the summer of 1999 and StarOffice 5.2 was released in June of 2000. Future versions of StarOffice software, beginning with 6.0, have been built using the OpenOffice.org source, APIs, file formats, and reference implementation.

  4. Don't marketers understand brand management? by dpbsmith · · Score: 5, Insightful

    When you have a brand name that actually means something to the public, and you try to perform a "line extension" by applying that brand name to more or less unrelated products that do not share the characteristics with which the brand is associated, you don't enhance the value of the brand, you diminish it.

    Diet Coke, Cherry Coke, Vanilla Coke, by all means, but there's a good reason why Coca-Cola Corporation calls their orange juice "Minute Maid" and not "Orange Coke."

    Sun's calling everything "Java" is almost as bad as Microsoft trying to appropriate the top-level-domain .net and apply it to some inchaote mass of technology.

    Calling everything Sun does "Java" may please the ego of whatever manager is empowered to stick the name "Java" on stuff, but it won't do Sun, or Sun's customers, or the Java "brand" any good.

  5. NEW Desktop?!? by redragon · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Is there any reason people keep mimicing the same old desktop? The same old office applications? Is anyone out there trying to break the mold (I give Apple credit for doing this to a greater degree than others)? I mean, I still see Win98 and above emulation here (not emulation like that...emulation as in, "the child emulates his parents actions"), why not work on something a bit more revolutionary?

    Of course here I am nit-picking, and don't really have anything helpful to add...

    Carry On.

    --
    - Sighuh?
  6. Making a dent?!! by dogfud · · Score: 2, Insightful

    See sun package linux.
    See sun sell package + support.
    See thousands of IT managers now say "oh yeah, _NOW_ I'll make the switch!"

    Riiiight.

    Linux still has the same issues...one of the biggest is...it's not windows! (oh, and the mouse movement is still not quite right..) All those MS Office licences that were negotiated, all those Seiko label printers the secretaries love and probably won't work (and if they do it'll be a pain), all the pirated copies of X-Treme Beach Volleyball that won't run, all the techs who will have to be retra[[[[tired and new ones with linux experience found...

    Let's face it. The linux faithful on slashdot are all nodding their heads saying "it could work..!" The suits who run the numbers, the IT managers who make the decisions...heck, even the techs on the floor are shaking their heads.

    Could it happen? Yes. Will it happen. No. Not for technical reasons (I think we'd all agree that it's very technically feasible) but for people reasons.

  7. Re:Article text. by rifter · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Thanks.

    I'm not a fan of the subscription type of licence, but as I said, it is not that much money...

    But this is not a subscription type license. If it was a subscription then after 1 year if you did not pay more money you would have to uninstall and destroy all copies of the product. This is not the case with the Mad Hatter. You can keep running it, but if you want support you have to pay. (Someone has to pay the phone bills and wages after all...)