UK Government warms to Sun's desktops

By Matt Whipp

Posted on 8 Dec 2003 at 16:22

News from yesterday's Observer and the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) has revealed that Sun's Linux-based Java desktop is proving irresistible to government departments as they try to drive out IT costs and channel that funding to front-line services.

Sunday's Observer reported that the NHS has ordered a trial of Sun's Java desktop to assess the cost savings compared with licensing Microsoft products and also to consider benefits such as longer periods between upgrades.

The OGC has also announced it will be extending its Open Source trials, which began initially with IBM, to Sun's Enterprise and Desktop systems. If successful, some 500,000 Civil Servants will be using it.

Once again, the lack of upgrade cattle-prodding is seen as a real boon. Mark Wood, who led the negotiations for the OGC, said: 'We should not underestimate the impact on the environment of frequently replacing IT equipment, which together with the potential direct cost benefits makes for a compelling case.'

Sun's Java Desktop is based on SUSE's distribution of the GNU/Linux operating system. In an earlier interview, Chris Schläger, SUSE's Director of Distribution Development, told us just how low the system requirement's are for the operating system. 'SuSE Linux can be installed and is tested still on Pentium I 90 machines,' he said. 'Not every piece of software runs smoothly! If you do the full-blown KDE with anti-aliased fonts and all the bells and whistles, then the Pentium I 90 is not the machine to use! But we do still have the lower-end window managers, like Windows Maker, or any of the more bare-bone managers. They work fine.'

The trials will begin in the new year.

Upcoming EU directives for Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive and the Restriction of Hazardous Substances that will be implemented into national law by the end of 2006 may also make the low requirements of Open-Source platforms more attractive to system builders too, as they will have to organise the safe disposal of end-of-life products.

Aside from the SUSE foundation, the Java Desktop includes an office from StarOffice, Mozilla's browser and Ximian's Evolution calendaring and PIM suite.

Ximian was acquired by Novell earlier this year, and the company is also mid-acquisition with SUSE. Sun's recent successes, with agreements to ship hundreds of thousands copies to Israel and China, will make Novell's buys seem more astute.