Linked by Eugenia Loli-Queru on Wed 2nd Jun 2004 03:13 UTC
Sun introduced recently the second version of Java Desktop System (JDS) for a flat fee per employee/per year. We tried it and here is what we found out about:
Permalink for comment
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
Just for everyone to get the facts straight on OpenOffice/StarOffice:
- A German company called StarDivision made StarOffice up to version 4.0
- Then Sun bought it, and released versions 5.0, 5.1 and 5.2
- Then they made some changes, and gave away the sources as OpenOffice.org. StarOffice 6.0 and above are based on that.
--- So far the facts ---
Now StarOffice was really a nice product up to 5.2. Version 6.0 didn't have the semi-annoying desktop anymore, but in return it is *much* slower and consumes *much* more memory. Now go figure out who was responsible for that: either the opensource-developers or Sun. As OpenOffice.org 1.0.0 was already as bloated as all later versions were, and as Sun removed the Star Desktop, I also think it was Sun who made it so slow.
That makes Java and OpenOffice about the two slowest applications in the UNIX-world, I would guess. I can only imagine two reasons for that:
- Programmers at Sun can't code. Unlikely, as Solaris' base works fine.
- Programmers at Sun all work on those high-end workstations with a dual 1 Ghz UltraSparc III and 2 GB of memory, so they don't notice how slow it is. More likely, as you do benchmark the kernel (either direct, or indirect by benchmarking a server) but you don't benchmark desktop apps.
--- So far MHO ---