Sun Microsystems has opened up early registration for
Project Mad Hatter, positioning it as a cheaper, secure alternative
desktop operating system to Microsoft's offerings.
Sun Microsystems director of marketing for desktop solutions
Peder Ulander revealed that Sun's as-yet-unnamed desktop OS will be
available next month at its annual SunNetwork user conference,
where Sun will reveal pricing, the name of the product, and the
business model for selling it.
Ulander described the future OS as an "alternative enterprise
desktop client" that relies on open standards and open file
formats. He added that the desktop client will provide all of the
functions 80% of enterprise employees require today.
He said the product would have fewer holes to exploits because
it is built on top of Linux.
"How [Microsoft] built their OS makes it fairly easy to
exploit," said Ulander. "Virus writers can script to their macro
environment."
Scott Tyler Shafer writes for InfoWorld