Sun Steps Back from Linux JDS

chill writes "ZD Net UK is reporting that Sun is pulling back from their JDS desktop Linux initiative. The big question is what happened to those half-million to million-plus units that were supposed to ship in China in 2004? One hint may be that in April, Novell announced a deal with CSSC to 'cooperate to provide technology, services and marketing to optimise and promote Linux to the Chinese market.' Sun's JDS was based on SUSE Linux, now owned by Novell."

Comments

This was inevitable

[Anonymous Coward]

Sun only supports linux because it is forced too. Sun developing for linux is ultimately counterproductive to its own long term future.

Re:This was inevitable

[AKAImBatman]

Sun developing for linux is ultimately counterproductive to its own long term future.

That's not entirely true. Sun's strategy has always been to sell hardware and complete solutions. It really doesn't matter to them if they're selling Linux or Solaris. In fact, long before JDS they provided an option to preload RedHat on many of their systems. Why anyone would chose RedHat over Solaris for a server system is beyond me, but a lot of customers were demanding it.

All the JDS is lacking is a true follow through. This half-assed release-it-and-then-drop-it strategy is guaranteed failure.

Re:This was inevitable

[ozbird]

Depends on the architecture - Solaris on Sparc makes sense, why anyone would choose Solaris over Linux on an x86/amd64 platform is beyond me. (I support both at work, and aim to replace as many Solaris boxes as possible with Linux.)

RedHat Enterprise Linux 4 has become the distribution of choice at work. It's not my first choice but RHEL is easy to install - and has the support pricetag (and scapegoat) to keeps management happy.

If you can't beat 'em, find something plausible to fit their preconceptions...

Forget China

[AKAImBatman]

The big question is what happened to those half-million to million-plus units that were supposed to ship in China in 2004?

What about those of us here in the US who *paid* for JDS and were promised major upgrades every quarter? We saw the JDS 1.0 -> 2.0 upgrade, then it stopped while Sun worked on JDS/Solaris.

Sun needs to learn that the only way they're going to make inroads into the desktop market is if they follow through. Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither was the popularity of Java or Solaris. If Sun would take the time to listen to their customers and implement the features they are demanding, then they'd have a very good chance at success. *sigh*

Re:Linux Is Getting Boring

[Zemplar]

"Even the BSD's have made it to the desktop (MacOS) with more success than Linux. It's no surprise, look at the licensing differences."

Perhaps Sun and Microsoft's new partnership with end with a melding of Solairs kernel with some sort of Microsoft added GUI akin to Apple and FreeBSD? As much as I dislike Microsoft, this could be a great product!

Makes perfect sense

[cpn2000]

It is looking like Sun has finally made up their mind and has decided to ditch Linux once and for all to put their energies into Solaris. For the longest time they were doing a half-hearted job of courting Linux, but I'm glad that they have finally made a decision and moved on.

It makes sense too. They have a world class Unix based OS and it made little sense for them to just abandon it and move to Linux. If they are able to generate some interest in an open source Solaris, that might be a more sensible path forward for them