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."

Comments

hmm mostly good... but

[Shakrai]

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?

Re:Madhatter for free?

[Jahf]

No, it won't be, at least for this first release.

Java Desktop System, aka Mad Hatter, is built on top of SuSE Linux Desktop 1.0. Since SLD is a non-free distribution, Sun hasn't secured the rights to put it up for download.

Right now JDS is integrated into the basic install process along with the branded SuSE distribution, therefore it is not available as a separate add-on CD like Ximian Desktop 2.

I'm not saying it never will be able to do something like this, only that this initial release will not. In the future it may be possible download in some form when JDS runs on additional platforms.

Of course, you can build a nearly functional equivalent using whatever Open Source OS you wanted along with the various desktop softwares. Some (not all) of the things you won't get will be:

* The Evolution Sun ONE Calendar Server connector

* The "Blueprint" theme / look / feel

* Various improvements to each of the software modules (unless you incorporate the Sun patches which have not yet been incorporated into the main project trees ... and yes, Sun does submit back as required)

* Improved Internationalization / Localization (though this first release will have limited improvements here)

Also, it's $50/year/user, but to get that pricing you have to have a Java Enterprise System (JES) subscription (which is $100/user/year, making it $150/user/year for JES + JDS).

There is a separate JDS shrinkwrap pricing model which is $100/system/year ... that's per system, not per user, so it may be more beneficial in some situations and less in other.