Sun previews its 'Project Mad Hatter' open source system

By Alun Williams

Posted on 6 Aug 2003 at 17:31

Sun has been previewing its new forthcoming desktop environment at the LinuxWorld Conference in San Francisco. Based on open source software, it is described as a low-cost alternative to Solaris and Linux.

Dubbed as Project Mad Hatter (do I detect a dig at Red Hat? - Ed), Sun describes it as 'a fully integrated open source-based desktop environment'. It will include the now-expected range of desktop applications, such as the StarOffice productivity suite, the GNOME interface, Evolution mail and calendaring, and Gaim instant messaging.

Interoperability is also promised with Microsoft Office and Exchange and Lotus Notes.

And of course, there will be support for the latest Java. Sun says that it will provide a native GNOME look and feel for all Java applications running within Mad Hatter. As an example of Java usage, a 3D desktop demo was presented to the Expo crowd and this was built using Java for Open GL bindings, which Sun has open-sourced at java.net.

It seems lower TCO (total cost of ownership) will be the basis for Sun's corporate sell of its Linux-like system. Savings, it states, will be made on licensing fees, increased user productivity and decreasing costs and time of administration. On that first point - with SCO having announced details of its charges for Linux licensing - it is worth pointing out that Sun is one of the companies to have licensed the use of SCO's code, i.e. its use of Unix code is officially untainted by the ongoing SCO Linux disputes.

And Sun is also emphasising the integrated nature of the software. 'We have already seen significant opportunities in the government, military, education and vertical market areas such as call centres and retail banking,' said Curtis Sasaki, VP of engineering, desktop solutions, Sun Microsystems. 'While many of the specific components exist today, we couldn't simply bundle all these tools and call it a viable alternative. Sun has done a significant amount of integration work and will be providing full worldwide support for the solution.'

Sun has not yet specified a release date for the new system.