Xandros Linux did this, including the simplification of the desktop, app choices, and inclusion of CrossOver office and Plugins for win compatability.
I posted about this before here : obviously, someone at Sun got a free copy of Xandros when Xandros gave out 1024 copies at LinuxWorld Expo here, and decided "Hey - this is the way to do it!", and now they call it JavaDesktop...
I find it odd that few of the tech press have picked up on it, and even fewer people have taken notice of the consistently good reviews it gets for this type of application, but Xandros Linux has *already done* what Sun is trying to do, and they have had their product out for 10 months now.
If you are a intermediate/advanced Linux user, Xandros probably won't interest you for personal use, but as a way to get win refugees started, it beats every other distro hands down (including the perennial favorite "newbie" distro, 'Drake). The sole purpose of the distro is to make win refugees be able to get using Linux with the least amount of pain and adaptation possible.
Xandros V.1 is Debian Woody based, uses older software libs, desktop uses KDE2.2, has *excellent* networking abilities with win shares and other b0xen (using the proprietary Xandros File Manager (XFM)), and has a simplified "Start" menu with 1 "best of breed" app for each task a user may need to perform. Hardware recognition on install is great, it picked up my hotplugged Archos MP3 player, Canon camera, USB mouse, etc etc with no problems post-install. It is intended for the "enterprise desktop", with stability being a prime requisite for any software which comes with the distro. Xandros V.2 (based on much newer software) is in beta testing right now. Individual prices - The "Deluxe" version (US$99) comes bundled with CrossOver Office and PlugIns, so that no msOffice or browser functionality is lost in the switch to Linux. The "Standard" version, without the costly CrossOver software, is US$40.
So, if you can't or don't want to wait for the Java desktop to be ready, try the Linux desktop that is already doing what Sun is hoping to do.
I don't work for Xandros, I do want to see them succeed - they understand what is needed to help migrate people to Linux.
It looks like Sun knows that too, they're just late to the game, IMO.
...this is a lot better effort by a kid (and a great read, too). I mean - this guy's doctoral thesis got classified Top Secret, etc... *and* he got to hang out with The Big Guys of Nuclear Physics and Weapons Making...
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN%3D068803351 2/thebrowsersbookwA/102-5759479-8637704
Like I said, I am not denigrating the kids work or his obvious smarts and the way he applied them - what I am getting at is the story title "here" was misleading. If the device was a Tesla coil, the headline would've claimed "Young Inventor Tames Lightning!"...
I mean, it's cool he could do this and all, but there's already 30 of these around the country, they don't produce any excess energy, other than that from what will soon be hundreds of little slash.fingers merrily typing away...
Misleading intro to this story - I was all set for some kind of great breakthrough, and instead I get the equivalent of a SCO press staement - a story, some hot air, but nothing of real substance.
Or am I missing some greater consequence of this?
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I posted about this before here : obviously, someone at Sun got a free copy of Xandros when Xandros gave out 1024 copies at LinuxWorld Expo here, and decided "Hey - this is the way to do it!", and now they call it JavaDesktop...
I find it odd that few of the tech press have picked up on it, and even fewer people have taken notice of the consistently good reviews it gets for this type of application, but Xandros Linux has *already done* what Sun is trying to do, and they have had their product out for 10 months now.
If you are a intermediate/advanced Linux user, Xandros probably won't interest you for personal use, but as a way to get win refugees started, it beats every other distro hands down (including the perennial favorite "newbie" distro, 'Drake). The sole purpose of the distro is to make win refugees be able to get using Linux with the least amount of pain and adaptation possible.
Xandros V.1 is Debian Woody based, uses older software libs, desktop uses KDE2.2, has *excellent* networking abilities with win shares and other b0xen (using the proprietary Xandros File Manager (XFM)), and has a simplified "Start" menu with 1 "best of breed" app for each task a user may need to perform. Hardware recognition on install is great, it picked up my hotplugged Archos MP3 player, Canon camera, USB mouse, etc etc with no problems post-install. It is intended for the "enterprise desktop", with stability being a prime requisite for any software which comes with the distro. Xandros V.2 (based on much newer software) is in beta testing right now. Individual prices - The "Deluxe" version (US$99) comes bundled with CrossOver Office and PlugIns, so that no msOffice or browser functionality is lost in the switch to Linux. The "Standard" version, without the costly CrossOver software, is US$40.
So, if you can't or don't want to wait for the Java desktop to be ready, try the Linux desktop that is already doing what Sun is hoping to do.
I don't work for Xandros, I do want to see them succeed - they understand what is needed to help migrate people to Linux.
It looks like Sun knows that too, they're just late to the game, IMO.
That was for the original azz who put in the Ziff bit... Heh - I got modded down...
Less than Malda?
...this is a lot better effort by a kid (and a great read, too). I mean - this guy's doctoral thesis got classified Top Secret, etc... *and* he got to hang out with The Big Guys of Nuclear Physics and Weapons Making... http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN%3D068803351 2/thebrowsersbookwA/102-5759479-8637704
Like I said, I am not denigrating the kids work or his obvious smarts and the way he applied them - what I am getting at is the story title "here" was misleading. If the device was a Tesla coil, the headline would've claimed "Young Inventor Tames Lightning!"...
I mean, it's cool he could do this and all, but there's already 30 of these around the country, they don't produce any excess energy, other than that from what will soon be hundreds of little slash.fingers merrily typing away... Misleading intro to this story - I was all set for some kind of great breakthrough, and instead I get the equivalent of a SCO press staement - a story, some hot air, but nothing of real substance. Or am I missing some greater consequence of this?