Linux in Government: Linux Desktop Reviews, Part 4 - JDS

During the launch of Sun's Java Desktop System (JDS), the company touted
its product as a real alternative to Microsoft Windows. During an
interview,
Peder Ulander, the then director of marketing for the Desktop
Solutions team at Sun, said, "The Java Desktop System is a comprehensive and secure enterprise
desktop environment that runs on Solaris and Linux. It provides the
enterprise with the first viable alternative to Windows in 15 years,
by offering a complete feature set at a fraction of the cost of a
Windows upgrade."

Peder also said:

From the perspective of a feature-to-feature comparison, we offer
more than a traditional Microsoft solution, since we are integrating
applications such as StarOffice and an email and collaboration
program. These services cost an additional $600 on a Windows platform. At
the end of the day, we focused on building a complete solution that would
enable CIOs to easily migrate their transactional and knowledge workers
from their existing solution to a more open, secure, and cost-effective
alternative. We have integrated the major application components, made the
desktop extremely intuitive and easy to use, and leveraged the security
of a UNIX-based operating environment. This saves CIOs money both in
Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and Total Cost of Acquisition (TCA).

Fifteen months later, we have not seen the market embrace Sun's entry.
Is JDS, in fact, ready as an enterprise desktop? Have other factors
interfered with Sun's marketing efforts? Let's take a look.
Business Model
As Peder indicated in the quote above, the Java Desktop System runs on
Solaris and Linux. At the time of that article, however, Sun had
released only JDS for Linux. Most analysts therefore believed Sun planned a Linux strategy with
JDS. Many of Sun's Reseller partners also viewed JDS as a Linux strategy.

In actuality, Sun's enterprise desktop strategy involves an infrastructure change. To
make money, Sun has to move hardware. Sun first and foremost is
a hardware company, and its operating systems exists mainly to sell
hardware. Similar statements have been made about Apple's software--it
exists only to move hardware.

If you contact Sun about its alternate desktop, the company is likely to
present you with a proposal to move from standard PC hardware to its Ray
thin client infrastructure. You can find Ray client-server
information on Sun's
solution
page. Ray thin client hardware is one of Sun's major lines
of business.
A Confusing Proposition?
When you connect the dots, Sun's Ray opportunity appears chaotic. Let's
look at some inconsistencies in what the company says and does. First, to
use the Sun Ray system, you need a server-level computer and an operating
system that can support the Sun Ray 3.0 server-side software. The workstations
connected to the server hardware do not run copies of the operating
system or any other software. They are stateless and consist primarily of
a monitor, a keyboard and a mouse. The server runs the operating system and the
Sun Ray Server 3.0 software. The server-side software paints the pixels
on the thin-client monitors, and users thinks they are using a full-fledged PC.

The current version, Sun Ray Server Software 3.0, runs with UltraSPARC
servers using Solaris 8, Solaris 9 and/or Trusted Solaris 8. Solaris 10
does not support the Sun Ray server-side software. These Solaris versions
require UltraSPARC processors; Solaris x86 does not support the Sun Ray
3.0 server-side software.

Sun Ray Server 3.0 also runs on x86 processor computers running
three operating systems: Sun's Linux JDS operating system Release 2,
Red Hat Enterprise Server AS 3 and SUSE Enterprise Linux 8, all in 32
bit mode. Sun's Linux JDS Release 2 supports the Sun Ray server-side
software. Release 3 of the Linux JDS is slated for launch later in 2005,
but it does not support the Ray server-side software as it is based on
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server version 9.
Running Sun Rays
To use the Sun Ray server, one has to configure a supported hardware
platform, load one of the supported operating systems mentioned above
and install the Sun Ray Server 3.0 software product. The Sun Ray Server
3.0 uses the underlying operating system to paint the thin client
desktop. So, if you use Solaris 9, users see only the older GNOME 1.4 or
2.0 desktop--not JDS. If you use Linux JDS Release 2, the Sun
Ray Server 3.0 paints the thin client monitors with JDS R2. Note:
Linux JDS R2 uses SUSE Linux Enterprise Server version 8.0.

Now one can see why Sun had to use the SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
when building its enterprise desktop. You need a server-class product
to power the Sun Ray thin clients. On a single-user machine, Linux JDS
might seem like overkill. Just consider it a powerful Linux workstation.
Back to Sun's Business Model
Again, Sun's business plan calls for software that sells hardware. So, if you
want the Sun Ray solution, you have to settle for older Sun versions of
Solaris for the UltraSPARC and older versions of Linux distributions. All
of the x86 solutions run only in 32-bit mode. Sun, however, only builds
64-bit AMD workstations. The Athlon workstations do support 32-bit operating
systems, however, their chassis and cases do not provide solutions for RAID
5. As a result, you need external storage if you want RAID 5 or better levels of
system continuity.

At this point, you might ask where Sun's alternative desktop play
against Microsoft sits? In the Peder Ulander interview linked to above,
dated December 2003, an exchange occurred between the interviewer and Peder
that seems to contradict Sun's eventual strategy:

Interviewer: A Sun study found that 45% of
Fortune 2000 CIOs were looking for desktop alternatives in the next 6 months.
What message do you have for them?

Ulander: If they are looking for an alternative that provides them
with all of the functions they need in an open, secure environment that
works with their existing infrastructure and improves their bottom line,
then we have a solution for them with the Java Desktop System.

With JDS already available as Release 3 in Solaris 10 and the upcoming
version of Linux, Sun's original message thus seems pretty confusing.
JDS, in fact, does not work in existing Microsoft infrastructures as it
does not come with Samba 3 and does not have the capability to work with
Microsoft Active Directory.

Sun does have a capable design team, and JDS provides a high quality
look and feel. The StarOffice7 productivity suite does offer significant
interoperability with Microsoft Office's file formats. JDS also provides
a number of core applications. A screen shot of the JDS desktop is shown
in Figure 1.
Figure 1. JDS Desktop
As you can see, the desktop has an appealing look and feel. Microsoft
Windows users should see similarities to their existing desktops, which
makes transitioning easy. As Ulander stated, "We have integrated the
major application components, [making] the desktop extremely intuitive and
easy to use...".
Hard Questions
We have asked some difficult questions about enterprise support in this
series on various Linux desktop offerings (see Resources_. In fairness, we
asked each company the same questions. Here's how Sun's JDS stacks up:

• What kind of support organization does Sun offer related to users? If
  you run into a problem, can you contact someone for help? How, over the
  phone or by e-mail?
  Customers that have purchased Sun Java Desktop can receive installation
  and configuration support for 60 days. Any other problems require
  customers to purchase support, as it is not bundled with the product.
  Per-incident phone and e-mail support is available to single users of the Sun Java
  Desktop System. E-mail and phone support costs $40.00, plus $3.98 for
  credit-card handling, per incident. Sun offers support in English, German, French,
  Spanish, Italian and Brazilian Portuguese. The support is
  available from 9 am to 5 pm local time, Monday through Friday.

  Sun requires individual users to submit a support request through Sun's
  Web site. Sun says that users can expect a response the next business
  day. Phone support also requires a Web request, and call-back times average
  four hours during working hours.

• How big is Sun's support organization? Does the company out-source
  its support?Sun out-sources its support for Linux. Sun did not confirm the size of
  its outsourcers. Sun offers service packages through its reseller
  channel. Resellers then offer services as a package from Sun.

  For multi-user support, the customer must submit and view his or her support
  cases on-line. Again, Sun partners provide support with availability
  between 8 am and 8 pm, Monday through Friday, for English, German,
  French, Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese speakers.

• Does Sun have a professional services organization? If
  someone wants to buy a large number of desktops, how would Sun handle a big order?

  One might find it difficult to say whether Sun offers formal
  professional support for Linux. The definition used in our desktop
  reviews has considered professional services something akin to high-level
  system integrators. Sun, however, defines its 200 pre-sales and post-sales
  engineers as its professional service team.

  For large or complex deployments, Sun offers deployment services. The
  personnel for those engagements appear to come from the sales organization
  Sun calls professional services. This seems somewhat confusing, and we
  do not know if that group supports Sun's channel partners or end users
  directly.

• Sun historically has offered documentation for the user. How about
  technical documentation, is there anything for the administrator?

  Sun offers user documentation. Some administrator documentation exists
  here. We do not know if Sun's
  offerings listed below provide separate published user documentation.

• What kind of solution/provider ecosystem exists? Does Sun have
  resellers? How robust is that reseller organization?

  As stated previously, Sun has a channel partner program. The channel is a
  robust ecosystem, but few Sun resellers focus on Linux. Resellers
  offer Sun hardware solutions, which have a high degree of dependency on
  the current software offerings.

• What is Sun's server strategy? Does the company provide back-office
  functionality and identity management?

  Sun markets back-office solutions under the Java Enterprise System. These
  tools include Sun Java Application Platform Suite, Sun Java Identity
  Management Suite, Sun Java Communications Suite, Sun Java Availability
  Suite and Sun Java Web Infrastructure Suite. Sun also offers Red Hat
  Enterprise Linux AS 3 and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server.

• What tools exist for rolling out and managing the desktops? Does the
  company offer on-site training?

  JDS Release 2 utilizes Sun Control Station 2.1 and Sun Java Desktop
  System Configuration Manager, Release 1. The tools for JDS R2 will reach
  end-of-life soon, and new tools will be available later in 2005 for JDS R3.

  Sun offers consulting that focused on the use of thin clients. Sun provides
  services around the design, building and validation of Java Desktop
  System solutions. According to Sun's Web site, the company's offerings
  include Workshop for Java Desktop System, Proof of Concept for Java
  Desktop System and Architecture and Implementation for Java Desktop
  System.

• How can administrators and help-desk people learn to provide desk-side
  support in their own companies? Does curriculum exist?

  Sun continues to provide robust educational facilities for legacy UNIX
  products. The company also offers Java Desktop System support services
  for Sun Java Desktop System HelpDesk Support, Sun Java Desktop System
  Managed Desktop Support and Sun Java Desktop System Professional Support
  Program.

Final Notes
As you can see by the answers to our "hard questions", Sun appears
to provide the necessary support and infrastructure for its Sun Ray
solution. However, given the software support offered for the Sun Ray solution,
the message has many incongruities. Does Sun really support a viable
Linux desktop? That answer seems to have changed since JDS's inception.
How can company officials attack Red Hat and then show it as a supported
solution for the Sun Ray? How can one rely on Red
Hat as a viable Sun offering without wondering if Sun suddenly might pull
the rug out from under a purchase?

We feel that CIOs should approach any of Sun's desktop offerings with
caution. The inconsistencies in the Sun message and Sun's tactics
seem apparent to us. Our advice: proceed with caution and do your
due diligence.
Resources
Linux in
Government: Linux Desktop Reviews, Part 3 - Red Hat Enterprise Linux

Linux in
Government: Linux Desktop Reviews, Part II - Novell Linux Desktop

Linux in
Government: Linux Desktop Reviews, Part I - Xandros Business Edition

Tom Adelstein works as an Analyst with Hiser+Adelstein, headquartered in
New York City. He's the co-author of the book Exploring the JDS Linux
Desktop and author of an upcoming book on Linux system administration,
to be published by O'Reilly and Associates. Tom has been consulting and
writing articles and books about Linux since early 1999.