While Linux may not quite be ready to take over most desktops for home use or dynamic business environments with custom Windows applications, Sun has made its intentions clear for 2004 by releasing the Java Desktop System. The desktop is targeted at enterprise customers who require basic applications such as e-mail, a Web browser, and an office suite in a controlled environment, such as a help desk.
"2004 is going to be the year of the desktop.
"It will be the first year an alternative desktop will be available to the market," said Duncan Bennet, director of infrastructure solutions and software at Sun Microsystems Australia.
His comments were echoed in the Linux.conf.au 2004 conference this morning by the executive director of Linux International, Jon "Mad-dog" Hall, who told delegates that "I believe that in 2004-2005 the Linux desktop will come into the corporate IT world".
While Sun could not name any further customers in Australia other than Telstra -- who were anything but quiet late last year about their intention to trial the software -- Bennet claims the vendor is currently talking to various prospects.
"While Telstra have been very vocal about what they are doing, we also currently speaking to banking, telecommunications and a lot [of prospects] in government," said Bennet.
"They want an alternative desktop and they want security," he added.
Sun concedes that while some businesses might be legitimately looking for a desktop replacement, there are large businesses who will simply announce they are looking for a Linux or open source solution as leverage to secure a discount on their next round of Microsoft licences.
"There are customers who are looking at us to get their next discount from their Microsoft licencing," said Bennet.
Laurie Wong, software business manager for Sun, said that the types of organisations looking at the desktop solution were those that already have Linux or Unix environments at the back-end as servers.
Sun's Java Desktop System is based on the Suse Linux distribution with the Gnome 2.2 desktop environment, running Sun's Star Office Suite, Mozilla browser, Ximian's Evolution e-mail client.
Both Laurie Wong and Duncan Bennet did not see a problem for Sun basing their distribution on SuSE Linux, considering that Novell purchased SuSE late last year and will be looking to sell similar packages to that being offered by Sun in the future. Wong said that Sun's Java Desktop System could be changed to another platform in the future and that the Java Desktop will work on various hardware, such as mobile devices.
Late last year, Sun announced that they were commissioned by the Chinese Government to deploy over one million desktop systems in China. While details of the actual operating system that the Chinese government will be basing the Java Desktop System are sketchy, it is understood that it will involve Red Flag.
While Linux has been a popular choice for many organisations on the server side in the past few years, very few organisations have deployed Linux as a desktop. It has previously been seen as being too complex, unfriendly to end-users, hard to support, and suffers from a lack of interoperabiltity with legacy technology such as some of the features in Microsoft Office.
Sun has announced a special of AU$86 per seat for the first year, with the regular AU$172 per year per seat price kicking in from the following year.
Brendon Chase travelled to Linux.conf.au 2004 as a guest of Sun Microsystems.
