Indonesia Adopts Java Desktop System on Linux

UltimaGuy wrote to mention a DesktopLinux.com article discussing Indonesia's adoption of a Java Desktop System on Linux as a national OS. From the article: "This desktop software will be a major component of the new Indonesia Goes Open Source (IGOS) program that aims to help eliminate the "digital divide in the world's largest archipelago," the ministry and Sun Microsystems said in a joint announcement. The ministry said it will develop its own IGOS-branded software stack using JDS on Linux as the base platform. The agreement with Sun -- for an unspecified number of years -- has the goal of installing copies of the open source-based desktop across Indonesia, beginning with its government-affiliated offices, the ministry said."

Comments

Informative Link

[TripMaster Monkey]

Here's an overview of the Sun Java Desktop System from sun.com.

Re:Informative Link

[AKAImBatman]

The long and short of it is that the Java Desktop System is a GNOME desktop that has been modified to function much like a Windows Desktop, but with Sun's own "flavor" of styling. (I hope you like purple.)

Up until recently, JDS has been a commercial product intended to provide a common desktop across all of Sun's OS products. This ranges from Solaris Sparc, Solaris x86, to their own brand of Linux codenamed "Mad Hatter". Now that the OpenSolaris project is in full swing, Sun is releasing the JDS source code to allow their desktop to be portable across their OpenSolaris line as well. These steps to complete openness are probably what interest Indonesia the most, as they can have all the support of a big company like Sun, but none of the concerns about the product line being dropped tomorrow.

(P.S. TMM, you need to do better than a quick link to something everyone already knows. Otherwise you're just karma whoring. You can do better than that! :-))

Re:Informative Link

[AKAImBatman]

P.P.S. Here's the source code for JDS. I knew it was around here somewhere. :-)

Re:More of this is inevitable...

[AKAImBatman]

Why any rationally thinking country would want to be at the mercy of a foreign owned commercial entity is beyond me.

They're not. Sun has apparently released the changes to the GNOME source code used by the JDS desktop to support the OpenSolaris project. What that means is Indonesia will get 100% open source software, but have the commercial backing of a large, international computer company. Should Sun ever go "bye bye" (not as likely as Slashdotters would like to think), Indonesia can dust off the source and continue to maintain the software with help from the OSS community.

Official Website

[karvind]

Official Indonesia Go Open Source website. (in english)

IGOS weblog

INDONESIA GOES REMOTE SENSING OPEN SOURCE (IGORSOS). Not in english.

A quick google search also pointed to SUN Microsystem's press release regarding this effort.

Re:Taking bets on when it'll be reversed...

[MrWiggum]

Now this may not count but I work at Novell and we are transitioning to being an all linux company every one in my department is running NLD or Suse 9.3 Pro. and have been for almost a year. Obviously we are a linux company and you would expect that we used linux for our desktops. But it just goes to show that a large corperation can do it.

Following other OSS moves in Indonesia

[linumax]

More on Indoneia's open source efforts could be found here
http://www.asiaosc.org/enwiki/page/Indonesia.html
They are one of the most active in ASIA but they usually do it on their own while others like Japan, Korea and China are workng together on nice things like Asianux

wasn't sun planning to phase out jds on linux?

[christoph_s]

...or was i just dreaming about that press release?
i thought they were going to concentrate on jds on solaris.

Re:Open source?!

[benjcurry]

Ummm...because Java Desktop System is the name of Sun's Linux distribution. Parent ain't insightful.

bait and switch

[Anonymous Coward]

$5 says this is just a ploy to get discounted windows vista licenses.

By any other name...

[WidescreenFreak]

Sun for whatever reason has moved a great deal of its software to a "Java" title. For example, anything that used to be under the "Sun ONE" moniker has since been renamed to "Sun Java System". There is no more reliance on Java than at any other time.

In fact, the only time that Java is used for their Directory Server package is during the inital configuration and when you use the administration tools. Right now on our very active Directory Server v5.2 system I am showing absolutely no Java or Java-related processes running. It's all in the name.

This kind of word play is nothing new. Look at Starburst "Fruit" Chews. (quotes mine) The candies include AT MOST 3% fruit juice as per the packaging. So, yeah, you're getting juice, but that juice is not the major component.

Same thing with the Java Desktop System. Java is in there, but it's not the core of what you're getting.

Exactly.

[abulafia]

Someone is going to call me a tinfoil hat wearing nutcase for this, but anyone can simply google around for evidence of the U.S. and France being engaged in a low-level commercial information war, Israel being fairly invasive with intelligence efforts in the US, and, well, just go look at some of the stuff that was going on with Inslaw.

Commercial involvment (willing or not) with spying for nation states is alive and well. I know nothing on the topic, but would be very surprised if Microsoft hasn't at least talked to someone from a TLA.

What happen to this meeting ?

[ankusu]

reference http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapac ific_business/view/151865/1/.html

Time is GMT + 8 hours
Posted: 09 June 2005 1531 hrs

Microsoft to grant pirate software amnesty to Indonesia

JAKARTA : Microsoft, the world's largest software maker, is to grant Indonesia an amnesty on pirated versions of its Windows programme used on government computers in exchange for a token payment.

Under the deal, up to 50,000 computers running illegal software would be legalised at a dollar each, Information Minister Sofyan Djalil said, according to the Jakarta Post daily.

In exchange, Indonesia would promise to purchase authorised Microsoft merchandise in the future and launch a major crackdown on a pirated software racket that is believed to be one of the world's worst.

Djalil said the amnesty proposal emerged from a meeting between Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Microsoft founder Bill Gates at the company's headquarters in Seattle last month.

"Microsoft is being realistic. They can't force developing countries like us to solely use legal software since we can't afford it. They want us to gradually reduce our use of it," Djalil said.

A study by the Business Software Alliance, an organisation of representing leading manufacturers including Microsoft, showed that 87 percent of the software on the market in Indonesia was pirated in 2004.

Counterfeiting in Indonesia cost the industry millions of dollars, the study said.

- AFP /ct

so, basically the president asked for a grant, by promising that they only use authorized version, and then turned their head to linux ?