Linux Journal: In Suspense Over Sun’s Upcoming Desktop Linux Boxes

We’ve been talking about the promise of Linux on the
Desktop (let’s call it LOTD) for almost as long as we’ve been
talking about Linux. But while prospects are better every day, LOTD
still a long way from the mainstream.

“Yet every once in awhile one of the Big Boys comes along and
threatens to push it there. The latest is Sun Microsystems. At
Linux World Expo last month, Sun President and CEO Scott McNealy
pre-announced a Sun-branded desktop Linux box due to be introduced
on September 18 at the Sun Network conference in San Francisco. The
announcement is still under wraps, although Don Clark of the Wall
Street Journal got a look under the shroud and found what he saw
compelling enough to warrant yet another Threat-to-Microsoft story.
It ran Thursday on the front page of the Marketplace section, as
one of the lead stories. (The link works, but a subscription may be
required.)

“For clues about where this thing is going to fit, here’s the
key paragraph from the Journal piece:

‘In the biggest development, Microsoft archival Sun Microsystems
Inc. next week plans to announce its first full-fledged commitment
to Linux on desktop PCs. The computer maker, whose server business
has been hurt by low-end systems running Microsoft Windows, is
determined to counterattack by cutting into Microsoft’s cash-cow
franchise in desktop-PC software. ‘We have a chance to be a force
for change in the industry,’ says Jonathan Schwartz, Sun’s
executive vice president of software…'”

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