A Sun Microsystems desktop engineer has outlined plans to release the code for the company’s Java Desktop System (JDS) environment and integrate it better with OpenSolaris.
A Sun Microsystems desktop engineer has outlined plans to release the code for the company’s Java Desktop System (JDS) environment and integrate it better with OpenSolaris.
I was under the impression JDS was essentially Gnome, with a few replacement icons etc. If so, shouldn’t any code already be released under Gnome’s license?
I was under the impression JDS was essentially Gnome, with a few replacement icons etc. If so, shouldn’t any code already be released under Gnome’s license?
I was just going to ask the same question.
So, here we are again. SUN showing their true colors.
They will release JDS now for OpenSolaris, but ignore other’s like Linux. Even though it was first developed on and sold by them as a Linux product, they will ignore Linux and only do it for OpenSolaris.
Nice.
This is soooo very typical of Sun.
They are such Open Source “Poser’s”!
>This is soooo very typical of Sun.
Wow, it’s almost like they’re trying to make money.
Nothing is stopping you from releasing a Linux port once the code is out. License should probably be CDDL.
Please, what is it with the “oh, we can just port XYZ to linux” ?
Seriously, JDS3 is gnome with Sun branding. You already have the source code via gnome.org. If you’re desperate for the Sun branding then you can figure out how to get it.
There’s more to free software than getting it to run on linux.
So, here we are again. SUN showing their true colors.
They will release JDS now for OpenSolaris, but ignore other’s like Linux. Even though it was first developed on and sold by them as a Linux product, they will ignore Linux and only do it for OpenSolaris.
Please research before making wild accusations, or before assuming based off a ZDNet article that SUN is only going to release what is necessary to build JDS on Solaris.
The JDS sources (almost all of it anyway) are already available here:
http://javashoplm.sun.com/ECom/docs/Welcome.jsp?StoreId=8&PartDetai…
SUN actually includes the .spec files needed to create the necessary RPMs for Linux as well, which are also used by their special pkgbuild system on Solaris as well:
http://pkgbuild.sf.net/
Last, the source will be available, but of course I don’t expect SUN to focus their efforts on Linux with this particular community project, since it is an OpenSolaris community project. However, SUN works very closely with the GNOME foundation and others to ensure that as much of their changes as possible go upstream. So, Linux distributors will beneft from whatever is done ultimately anyway.
So, please, no more troll posts? Thanks.
> If so, shouldn’t any code already be
> released under Gnome’s license?
Not if Sun holds the Copyright. Sun contributes *very* much to GNOME, it does not have to release anything that it created itself. The base libraries of GNOME are LGPL anyway, not GPL.
>Not if Sun holds the Copyright. Sun contributes *very* >much to GNOME, it does not have to release anything that >it created itself. The base libraries of GNOME are LGPL >anyway, not GPL.
That’s a bit of an overstatement. You should know that changes to code under the LGPL have to be released just like under the GPL. So most interesting things are out already. I would guess we are looking at a few Java apps, and nothing more.
Not if Sun holds the Copyright. Sun contributes *very* much to GNOME, it does not have to release anything that it created itself. The base libraries of GNOME are LGPL anyway, not GPL.
That all depends on what libraries they link against and where they have made their modifications.
No, the JDS is a little more than Gnome :-).
It does have some Sun add in’s, but it is largely Gnome. What it does do though, is reconfigure Gnome into Sun’s image, and those configuration files an images in addition to the smaller segments of code that Sun has added are being deployed.
While I personally like Novell’s use of Ximian’s Desktop integration much better, it seems to be more well thought out, the JDS is a very usable desktop, which is a far cry from OpenLook, CDE or a stock Gnome install (though with the later 2.x builds that is changing).
I am hopeful that, overtime, that JDS will become one of the defining features of OpenSolaris. Although it disappointed me at first, seemingly a re-badged Gnome, the most recent version, 3, is a easy-to-navigate desktop that provides an excellent desktop UNIX set up, much better than what I experienced with CDE.
Not only does it have a promising start, but the future should be great as well. The openSolaris community has been fantastic so far, rendering replies to every small question, no matter how nonsensical, that I inquired about.
Depending on whether they can retain the usability of the existing model, this should be a project to keep your eyes on.
-Alex
AFAIK jds is a linux kernel distro, openS. instead is bsd kernel distro. What this mean, that linux kernel will to reblace bsd, or viceversa? #:-o
JDS is a desktop for UNIX/Linux and not related to the kernel.
OpenSolaris is System V based, not BSD based.
No… JDS isa desktop interface, a la Gnome and KDE, that was ported over the linux kernel into a distribution using the same name.
As others have already mentioned, JDS is essentially Gnome and thus all of the source code is already open.
What the article really wants to say is that the JDS effort is going to open up and hopefully become more of a community effort, like Gnome itself, rather than something that happens inside Sun run exclusively by Sun engineers. This isn’t about opening up code, but about opening up the development process.
That is all. Move on, nothing to see here.
“AFAIK jds is a linux kernel distro, openS. instead is bsd kernel distro. What this mean, that linux kernel will to reblace bsd, or viceversa? #:-o”
Solaris / OpenSolaris is reportedly not based on BSD, but on UNIX System V, so you should not call the kernel BSD, or the system as a whole. The earlier versions called SunOS were based on BSD.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solaris_Operating_Environment