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Sun Java Desktop System Release 2
Jahf writes "Sun is putting out Java Desktop System Release 2. Some overview information is in this article while more technical information about the new management solutions are in this one. Quickly: the desktop environment is essentially the same, though Sun has added support for GIMLET (allows one to change the current input language on a per-window basis), officially supported Japanese and Korean translations, and is including a Java-based online update client. The bigger changes are management items that are normally hidden from the end-user but valuable to the Admin. Configuration Manager allows admins to setup client preferences for remote desktops and 'protect' those settings to create policies. Sun Control Station (the last remaining Sun product from the Cobalt acquisition) can work as a network imaging server, can monitor remote desktops, and can work as a patch server (both by pushing patches out to many desktops and by serving as an online update server for clients who need to pull additional packages)."
Could they make it look any more like Windows
They are probably trying to reduce the amount of effort (and training costs) needed to retrain users that are familar with Windows. Usability is all about having an interface that does what users expect. Right now, they expect it to act like Windows.
Little Bricklets
Could they make it look any more like Windows. This here is a linux OS that is trying to look as much like linux as possible.
Woah, there. That doesn't even BEGIN to make sense. (unless that's some weird, round about way of saying it doesn't look like MS Windows)
Incidentally, I don't think anyones got any business knocking the windows GUI. There are many things wrong with the Redmond family of operating systems but, to give them their due, they've put a hell of a lot of work into making the desktop work reasonably well.
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I hope all of the above. Choice is good, and as long as they interoperate, I believe it would be fantastic to have several "leaders" each with its own look and feel catering to a different class of users.
What Sun does next will determine how well this will work. If they're just trying to offer a desktop which they can sell support for, then this won't go much of anywhere.
If they focus on selling certification and support documentation and training, this could make the Linux desktop infinitely more digestible to the enterprise, who want to be able to hire cheap and interchangeable developers and support personnel.
Sun Java Desktop is based on Suse Linux. Suse Linux is owned by Novell.
Sun and Novell are the top 2 contributors to OpenOffice/Star Office.
Novell's Suse Linux comes with OpenOffice, while Sun Java Desktop comes with StarOffice.
Consensus is good, but informed dictatorship is better
Personally after doing desktop tech for so long this is a GOOD! thing.
80% of workstation problems come from user intervention. Lock downs keep out virsus and spyware. Of course Betty in accounting will hate you because she can't have her cute little screen saver of cats climbing around her machine.
As came up in the previous Java desktop discussion, there is some ambiguity as to the use of the word Java, Sun now considers Java to be a brand, just like GM has brands of Chevy and Oldsmobile, thus the Java desktop doesn't necessarily have anything to do with Java the programming language. Being a Java programmer myself, it may be hard to live the fact with our favorite language is now a pseudonymn for a corporate brand, but we need to call spade a spade. For Sun Java is a name they use to sell product and doesn't necessarily have anything to do with a programming language. Mark Mark
Reliable and accountable support?
Stick Men
There is improvement in some applications; the Oracle enterprise manager in the 9i client does have a much better feel than the 8i client for instance.
Still, comparing a web application (for instance) written in
So I'll agree that there have been some speed improvements, but I haven't seen much. That could be from improvements in the JVM, the language itself, or better engineering but it doesn't feel wide spread (yet?).
A Human Right
In fact, I think you'll probably find yourself much happier with windows. You are running windows, aren't you? A little bird told me that it supports your scanner, TV card and your camera!
However, for some of us Linux (or Solaris, etc) is a better option:
Do I own your camera? no.
Do I own your TV card? no.
Do I have your digital camera? no.
Do I have 200 bucks handy to buy a second copy of windows for my second pc? no.
Do I really want to agree to licensing terms that allow MS to pay me 'friendly visits' every no and again? no.
etc.
... that Betty and everyone else locked into a cube day after day after day needs something to feel like a human being, and not just a de humanized cog in a heartless machine that starts off by hiring them as a "human resource" instead of a "person"nel. Employees aren't even classed as "people"now, they are just "stock" like stuff on the shelf in the warehouse, or no more important than the copier.
Modern businesses are bad about abusing employees, they want trained rats, not human beings. For some people, a cute screen saver might be to that person a tremendous morale booster, trivial as it may seem to someone else. Modern corporate life and life in consumerville and taxhell USA is bad enough when things are going smoothly, take away peoples human-ness,their individuality, turn them into--I dunno, hive creatures, termites, to force them into some mold beyond reason, is not only cruel, it's insane from a business standpoint as well, you won't have happy camper employees, ever.
A compromise might be better, something along like, personalization of your desktop is acceptable, provided the installed piece of eyecandy crap or whatever is reviewed for being spyware or malware first. Yes, more work for the techs, so what, that's their job, keep the computers happy so that the happy computers make the humans sitting in front of them happy, working, so that your company can keep making happy profits. Seems reasonable to me.
Give you an example. I used to work for a guy didn't allow playing the radio. Umm, I work outside all my life mostly,blue collar, not white collar jobs, but the principle is the same. The radio didn't interfere with squat, but it "wasn't allowed". Me being able to hear my news and talk shows and a few tunes now and then keeps me happy and productive. Not having it annoys me right off the bat, I started dreading going to work because it meant a lot to me and it was such a BS rule, finally I quit, and I can guarantee I wasn't as productive as I could be, and starting each day off with animosity towards the boss is just not a good idea.
Just a few thoughts. I fully understand how vital secure computers are,and surely there's a way to keep all the people who use them at the shop at least partly satisifed that "their" machine they get to use is somehow really "theirs" for the time they sit in front of it every day. NOT doing that would be- like- insisting that the company trucks have their seats bolted down in one general position, so that no one could adjust them to "fit" better. Sure, you could still drive the truck, but really....