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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."
Here's an overview of the Sun Java Desktop System from sun.com.
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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.
Java is part of Indonesia :-)
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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.
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.
Ummm...because Java Desktop System is the name of Sun's Linux distribution. Parent ain't insightful.
BenCurry.net
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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