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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."
Why any rationally thinking country would want to be at the mercy of a foreign owned commercial entity is beyond me.
Why any developed country would want their critical infrastructure and national security owned by a foreign owned commercial entity is beyond me. If France really hates us, why on earth would they want to be locked in to MS?
As countries develop and take control of their own infrastructure, I wager they will actually want to control it, which means access to the source code.
I don't know that I would call a desktop OS 'critical infrastructure.' When I think 'critical infrastructure,' I think of data routers and switches, or DMS100s or ESS switches. Power circuit relays in electrical substations might be better termed 'critical infrastructure,' vice 'Microsoft Windows.'
That being said, your underlying point, 'Why would any rational country depend on foreign suppliers for their critical infrastructure needs' is open for debate. Perhaps there is no domestic supplier for such items or services. Perhaps the domestic equivalents to foreign goods and services are anything but equivalent. Or, perhaps the foreign company has a domestic 'arm' which muddies the waters as to what is domestic and what is foreign.
Is a desktop OS (we're talking about JDS, remember) really 'critical infrastructure?' I'm not convinced it qualifies as such. But, that may just be me.
-- .sig or not to .sig, that is the question.
To
Do you mean to say that the "Java Desktop System" does not contain a Sun JDK?
Do they really think they are saving money by switching to open source linux? They're paying Sun like they would be paying Microsoft for their products. They want to implement this over a couple of years, by that time maybe something new comes up.
Waste of money. It's going to cost a lot of money to train indonesians to use linux. Support is going to cost a lot too.
You see, that's the point. They will have to spend money to train people to use any system, no matter whether it's linux, windows, os-x or something else.
In short term, they wouldn't save money no matter what they choose. I think they realize that, and are hoping that by going with a mostly open source system, they will save money in long term.
In addition to saving money, I also think there are other motivations, like not making the whole country completely dependend on a US corporation. They are buying from Sun, but since most of the system is open source, it makes them much less dependend on Sun then they would be on MS.
AccountKiller
I don't know that I would call a desktop OS 'critical infrastructure.' When I think 'critical infrastructure,' I think of data routers and switches, or DMS100s or ESS switches. Power circuit relays in electrical substations might be better termed 'critical infrastructure,' vice 'Microsoft Windows.'
I have to disagree with you, just as an example, in Mexico there is some government organism called "IFE" which translates to something like Federal Electoral Institute, which is in charge of managing all the processes around selecting new governors, presidents and any other political job which worker has to be seelcted by voting. It does some other smaller things also.
The thing is, they use propietary Microsoft and other brand software and I think it would benefit to use free software.
I have a friend that works there and, she offered me a Senior-Programmer/IT full job, she asked me to make a software to handle certain kind of data.
Now, after looking at the requirments for the program I realized that almost any IFE office on Mexico would certainly beneffit from the software. Ultimately I didnt accepted the job (as I got a scholarship to make a phD) but I thought it would be great to make that program (with other programs used by that office or other governments office) Open source, and that ran over an OSS platform. That way, I could, lets say, start and pubilsh the project in sourceforge and all the other IT managers from the offices in the other cities could have contributed to the software. And of course all the community.
Ubuntu is an African word meaning 'I can't configure Debian'
Sun announced back in June that it was putting JDS on the low priority list. That alone makes this deal surprising. More than that, getting Indonesia to switch to JDS is quite a feat considering what a failure JDS has been to this point.
... wait ... wrong list ...
Failure #1: Bad PR from Sun's own supporters that the first JDS came out not on Solaris, but on Linux. It is also rejected by a great deal of the Linux crowd because they already know how to get just about everything that JDS provides, short of Star Office, which is of course the Linux crown simply replaced with Open Office.
Failure #2: Sun partners with a virtually unknown PC company to sell JDS-installed PCs to the masses. The problem is that the PCs were sold only through Wal-Mart's web site. I don't know who the brain was who thought such a distribution method was viable, but I hope that person is now unemployed. Who the HELL would possibly think that tech-minded people who are looking for a Windows alternative would think, "Oh, yeah! Let's check out Wal-Mart! They're just so techie! Hey, get those Best Buy, NewEgg, and Circuit City web sites of my screen!"
Failure #3: PROFIT!!! Er
Well, I certainly hope that this works out for Sun. I love Sun hardware and Solaris. But thus far their foray into the "Windows desktop replacement" genre has been a great deal less than admirable. These Asian deals are their third attempt at raising this phoenix from its ashes. If JDS doesn't pan out this time, Sun needs to enforce a "three strikes, JDS is out" rule.
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