Thursday, October 07, 2004

Sun's Java Desktop System (JDS) has faced a lot of flack from the Free Software community. People object to Sun's naming scheme and branding, and have cried out in angst about JDS's complex and unattractive end-user licensing agreement. It seems odd that strident objections are being directed at the very best, most complete, and thoroughly integrated GNU/Linux distro on the market. Upon close inspection, the discrepancy is about the different objectives of individual open source developers and enterprise software vendors. And in the end, the high quality of Sun's new desktop system stands firm as a testament to our shared values for open standards and competitive functionality.

While Java is important to JDS, there should be no mistaking that JDS is a complete and thoroughgoing Linux distribution. In fact, JDS is based on Novell's SuSE Linux distro, employs the GNOME user interface, and carries a complete selection of desktop applications. Many, if not most, of JDS's components, too, are open source software.

JDS, a hardened enterprise Linux distro, contrasts dramatically to what we call "popular Linux." The latter is exemplified by Fedora Core 2 (or now, 3), SuSE Linux Desktop (9.x), Slackware, Gentoo, Debian, and others, which have the very latest Linux kernel and the latest versions of open source applications. JDS, being built upon older, more stable components, has faced criticism from open source users who are accustomed to the latest Free Software components and are willing to live with the attendant instability and incompleteness of the application toolset. But such critics are consistently out of touch with enterprise software demands, often unable to see the necessity or the value proposition to large organizations of completeness and integration over currency.