Slashdot Mirror
Sun Gets Open Source Into NSW Government
lplatypus writes "ZDNet Australia reports that Sun Microsystems has "has cleared a place for its Java Enterprise System on the NSW government's software shelf, continuing its campaign to weaken Microsoft's monopoly over the desktop." The Age clarifies that Sun's offering includes open source components such as Linux, Gnome, Mozilla and Evolution. Another article is at Australian IT, or see Sun's press release."
One of the things I haven't been able to figure out (probably haven't looked hard) is if MadHatter is going to be avaiable for free download. I know Sun is trying to make a little money off of corporations (that 100/year/user thing), but what about the rest of us?
Hmm... this would seem to be a good thing for Open Source... except, how Open Source is Sun's Java Enterprise System? Admittedly, this is the first I've really looked into it.
However, the company has to overcome heavy market inertia favouring Microsoft's proprietary server and client software product sets, particularly its ubiquitous office productivity suite Microsoft Office.
Why does everybody always point the finger at Office? While it's a pain in the foot to deal with those .doc files if you don't use it (converters and built-in support aside), the problem (at least where I work -- would this not hold true in most places?) is that our _vendors_ for our company specific software (in our case, Insurance, but friends of mine who work in the medical or automotive fields would say the same thing) base their solutions around Windows workstations and Windows servers. I can't very well ditch Windows in my Enterprise environment without a comparable solution to do what we need (manage an Independent Insurance Agency) in Linux/Unix/Apple/whatever.
Does anybody realistically see that changing anytime soon?
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
Perhaps their stock will go up in the coming weeks. If Sun does in fact have a future that doesn't end in bankruptcy or in the belly of some other corporation, then their stock price been seriously undervalued for quite some time now, at 1/20th of what it was in 2000.
"...continuing its campaign to weaken Microsoft's monopoly over the desktop." Just keep chipping away. It isn't going to happen tomorrow, but every little movement counts.
-Magiluke
Earl Grey, Hot.
I have never thought of Sun as competing with Microsoft.
Sun tends to start where Microsoft ends, in the server market at least, while in the past they were a leader in the workstation market.
For companies that lose over US$1 million dollars per minute of downtime, Sun and IBM mid and main frame hardware is very cheap.
Many people dismiss Sun because they "currently" do not need such power. It's sort of like calling a Semi-trailer useless because a Toyota gets the job of bring the groceries done more efficiently.
Techies don't like Sun hardware because they are not in a position to rip into the hardware or software when things go wrong. Many don't understand why anybody would want processors which run at under 1GHz.
Accountants don't like Sun because the techies tell them they are getting ripped off.
But at the end of the day, whoever uses Sun hardware does not complain about uptime.
As for Sun and open source, don't think for a second that Sun has not FULLY tested all the software they will be puting the computers for the NSW government which has about 10,000 computers at the moment.
Sun has to get this sort of support, but from larger governments and organizations, if the stock market is to ever look upon Sun's stock(SUNW) as positive and solid ever again. Once upon a time, many may forget, but there was indeed a time when Sun was well over 60 dollars a share, and the stock market was beaming with joy at the little server company that could. Then, the econonomic bubble exploded, (or imploded, you could say), and Sun started to decline in spite of small innovations, their competitors became too heavy. Sun's new offerings, specifically the Java Virtual Desktop System, are very good looking, and I am a Sun investor at 4.07(now at 3.55), and I hope others may buy into Sun's [lucrative] price.
nope.
calling it 'sun linux' wouldn't have been that smart, 'sun desktop system' sure, but there's no point for them to limit the system to linux(for future migration to any os they want).
general _users_ don't care *shit* if it's name has 'java', and sys admins and decision makers should be smart enough to look into their decisions under the skin(_should_ be, having the java in the name can swing the decision both ways with clueless retards).
if you want to check out a 'java desktop' check out jdistro
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
Sun is using open source to fill in big gaps in their software offerings, but what they sell also has a significant proprietary component. In particular, a lot of the Java-related products are proprietary.
On balance, this is probably still good for open source and open systems. But we have to be wary of Sun: they are not an open source company, and many of their efforts are not in the best interest of the open source community.
I'm no Linux/Open Source zealot, and have little time for those who are. I don't even particularly hate Microsoft (I hate using most of their products, but that's another story), but it makes me angry to even think about the amount of the taxpayer's money that they cream off, when there are free solutions that work equally well. This is a good start at least.
What I'd *really* like to see isn't just the OS replaced on workers' desktop PCs, but a lot of those PCs replaced with VTs. Cheap to buy, cheap to run, and set up to provide only the applications people need to do their job. No tossing it off on the web all day, no Internet usage policies, no clueless outsourced PC support department, just a big old Unix server (or two) conencted to dumb terminals, with users trained in the one or two pieces of software they really need. Not suitable for everyone of course, but perfect for a lot of setups. I'm going OT I know. Sorry.