Sun to shed light on desktop Linux plans

Sun Microsystems Inc. is expected to unveil a Frankenstein-like desktop Linux strategy this week, combining various software elements developed in-house or by open-source community projects and third-party vendors.

Sun's desktop Linux play, which will be spelled out Wednesday at the start of its SunNetwork conference here, marks another shift for the Santa Clara, California, company as its battles industry leader Microsoft Corp. for the hearts and minds of corporate users.

Sun already has turned to Linux to help it compete in the low-end server market, where systems based on its proprietary Solaris operating system tend to be too expensive to compete. It unveiled a Sun-branded version of Linux last month at the LinuxWorld Conference and Expo, along with the dual-processor Sun LX50 server, which runs on Intel Corp. processors and is designed for jobs like file and print serving.

But Sun executives say more is to come. Scott McNealy, its chairman, president and chief executive officer, said during the LX50 server launch to "stay tuned" for news about a desktop Linux offering. Since then Sun executives have hinted at the company's plans in interviews leading up to the SunNetwork show, but have declined to offer specifics.

It's still not clear, for example, if its Linux play will be for desktop computers or more powerful workstation clients. But what does appear certain is that its target audience, at least initially, is in the workplace and not the home.

"The audience for Linux on the desktop really is the IT manager," said John Fowler, chief technology officer of Sun's software division, in an interview with journalists last month.

Workers who use PCs for special-purpose tasks, and who do most of their work on custom-designed software, have use for Linux-based desktop environments, according to IDC analyst Dan Kusnetzky. Possible target markets include the finance industry, where staff often use single-purpose machines to enter financial data.

"That's an opportunity Sun certainly could exploit," he said. Systems running Linux aren't very useful for those workers who rely on the widely-used Microsoft Office software suite, Kusnetzky said. While some alternatives to Office do run on Linux, "any incompatibility, at any level, is unacceptable," he said.

Sun has revealed that its Linux distribution for servers was based almost entirely on the version of the open source operating system developed by Red Hat Inc. Sun did some tuning to the operating system to make it run best with its hardware and software.

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