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This is the problem in a nutshell. Sun has never really dealt with end-users, their target has always been system administrators and workstation technicians. I am sure that the JDS desktop management tools are really quite impressive-for sys admins. But end-users, people who place more importance on look and feel than on system level management and networking, are unknowns for Sun. Apple used to have the opposite problem-they were the very best OS for end-users but with little or no know-how in the domains of administration and networking-this of course has changed with the introduction of OSX.

People constantly gripe at Linux/FOSS hackers for having no appreciation for the end-users plight-but here we see proof that multi-billion dollar propietary firms are also subject to such weaknesses. Many say that Linux/FOSS software is lacking the raffinesse that propietary money can buy-ie. that full-time paid developers can do all the real work of polishing the look and feel. Well Sun has how many full-time developers working on JDS-and look at what it has brought them.

Sun has made one stategic mistake after the next regarding the Linux market. If they wish to succeed with JDS-they must make a few fundamnetal changes to their approach.

System administrators already expect high-quality from Sun-it is the end-users who need to associate such with Sun and they are failing at this. Sun will never exclusivley focus on end-users-JDS is ultimately geared toward networked installs-the real market of JDS is fat-clients, something which Sun has fought tooth and nail for years.

So they at once need to focus on administrators and flexible seemless integration of JDS into homogenous networks-and they need to focus on end-users at least to the extent that they plan on selling JDS pore-bundled with computers via walmart. In all likelihood Sun is overextending itself and going beyond it's realm of expertise in pursuing such a broad strategy. They could of course simply decide to pursue JDS and eventually Looking Glass as value-addons for existing Linux products. Their commitment to GNOME is not for JDS but for their own Solaris desktop which badly, badly needed the facelifting. If they choose to continue pursuing JDS as a Linux distribution they need to overcome their resentment of fat-client solutions and by extension end-users. For this scenario-I suggest the following:


Firstly they need to drop JDS's dependency on the horribly antiquated SuSE versions(Sun appears to be using bits and pieces from SuSE's server edition 8 and desktop version 8.0/8.1). They should instead focus either on newer versions of the SuSE line-up from Novel or use either debian of fedora as a bais for their own distro. Whatever path they choose they must provide a custome solution for both the desktop and server-they cannot sell a desktop and have large parts of the software repository-ie. their real value-add domain being dependent on a Redhat server. Great if the also support Redhat in this function-but they need to provide this themselves.

If they were to use fedora as a basis they would have to switch to NTPL. Using fedora would give them an "in" on a much bigger community-which would lessen their workload-Sun can't afford to "go it alone". A number of JDS developers have mentioned switching to debian at planet.gnome.org-but I doubt that the PHB's at Sun would go for something like that. If Sun would tie into more recent offerings from Novell they could benefit from the GNOME polishing work being done by the Ximian guys and pioneer implementations of the new udev/HAL led by Robert Love.

They are already working behind the scenes on the newer X extensions-fixes, damages, composite-for their Looking Glass desktop-why not go ahead and commit themselves to Freedesktop.org. They need the support of a larger community to make JDS a success and they need to be able to draw from a large repository of current packages which work with the system without major modification. NGPL is fine if it doesn't pose fundamental problem to using external packages-it seems although that most of the rest of Linux has chosen NPTL.

Secondly, GNOME makes new releases every six months-Sun should adopt a policy of releasing updates for their system every 6+3 months-ie. 3 months after the offical GNOME release should give Sun the time to do the bug checking and integration work they need for a timely good quality desktop. Moreover JDS could be a showcase for the great things one can do with Java-why in the world Sun hs failed to use this oppurtunity to attract the Java developers it is looking for is hard for me to fathom. I know that latest JDS comes with some great java development tools-but the look and feel of their java applications for JDS or just sad-nothing which promotes their development platform.

Thirdly, Sun must work hard to take avantage of recent kernel improvements-they are selling JDS for consumer desktops and the hardware-support out of the box for new hardware is unparalleled with recent 2.6 series kernels. What they need is a really polished Linux system upon which they can value-add. I will probably never use JDS let alone purchase it-but I would like to see Sun not blow it-this is only make Linux look bad-even if by calling it the "Java Desktop System" there is no reference to Linux upon which the whole thing is based.

Sun's approach to Linux has always been problematic and self-contradictory. Sun's ambitions with JDS are just shy of megalomaniac. I am not sure if Sun is even capable of realizing their JDS plans. If they are-they need to start making decisions which are more forward-looking and they need to make commitments to the community. What Sun and Novell are planning to do is not so totally divergent-both wish to create a high-quality Linux product and sell their brand name via value-add on software.

Redhat has decided aginst this route- they are selling service on top of a completely free software. Novell is using mostly free software-but Novell also has a stake in the windows market even if increasingly only from the integration point of view-this makes there propietary add-ons more palatable-and Novell is releasing mor and more of it's own code under free licenses. Sun is mixing propietary software with a system which is predominately free and selling service.