Linux Desktop Approved for Japanese Ministries

In the Silicon.com article, the essence of this story comes to life:

"A Sun representative said on Wednesday that Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry has endorsed Sun's Java Desktop System as an approved product for future bids. The ministry is undergoing an evaluation of its current desktop software but has not yet committed to deploying JDS, the representative said."

One has to ask "why is this news?" Primarily because Sun has set it's eye on market share and government stands as a primary target. Getting over the procurement hurdle is a major battle in the government arena. It's a first step and such steps turn into wins similar to Munich.

Sun's Desktop Linux system will now be installed in 26 countries through it's arrangement with Vodaphone. So, they are making progress.

Another important point to consider: Sun is beginning to get it's message straight. President Bush had a field day during election season branding his opponent as a flip-flopper. Sun has made a name for itself in the same regard.

In the trenches, Sun sales people have made similar mistakes, quoting their bosses. Recently, in Dallas-Ft. Worth at the DFW Unix Users' Group, a Sun representative explained how his company planned to grab business from Linux. You might consider that as not too bright. But in business we always say, the stuff flows down hill.

So, it's encouraging that the brass has decided that they will consolidate their message. Whats the message? Perhaps this explains it best:

In an excerpt of an article about the Chicago Mercantile Exchange published Monday October 25, 2004 in ComputerWorld, Patrick Thibodeau discussed the Merc's move to Linux and their existing Solaris infrastructure. At one point, the Merc's director of distributed computing provides an important insight:

"The Merc isn't closing the door on Solaris. [Joseph] Panfil will continue to evaluate Sun's products... Panfil isn't worried about supporting both operating systems. 'We have proven we can support Solaris and Linux in parallel,' he says, citing the expertise available on his staff.

Sun is a Linux company on the desktop and a UNIX company on the server side. And, by the way, the Java Desktop System is available as an option on Solaris. That's always been the case.

Now, let's see how long it takes for the message to stabilize and wonder if they can they win with that message. It's better than flip flopping away.

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