Wednesday October 13, 2004

JDS Change Acceptance

The Java Desktop System (JDS) Change Acceptance Team is working on two big changes.

The first change is the change to running JDS on our desktops. JDS for Solaris doesn't ship until next year but in the meantime we want everyone to become familiar with what JDS on the desktop will look like. So, we are releasing a version of Gnome that we call JDS Preview because it looks like the JDS Desktop. The conversion to JDS Preview is being tested right now. I mentioned that we were starting testing last week. We found a couple of problems in our conversion scripts but I think we are on track to release JDS Preview world wide very soon. The CAP team and the communication team are working hard to make sure people know it is coming and have opportunities to learn about it and ask questions about it. Most people I talk to are eager to start using it although I have had a couple of people ask what JDS stands for! I guess that just proves we are talking to the right people.

The second JDS related change is the change to JDS on laptops. We make available an iWork Client toolkit that includes all the software I need to use a laptop to do Sun work. The toolkit includes everything from StarOffice and Mozilla to a VPN client and Teledesk software that allows me to manage my phone calls. In the next few weeks we will be releasing the JDS iWork Client Toolkit. Finally everyone at Sun will be able to use JDS whether they are on a SunRay or a laptop. It really is great to use the same environment everywhere.

The JDSiWork Client is about ready to ship. The only issue we are still working out is how support will work. We have found out through experience that a lack of good support is a significant barrier to people's ability to work remotely and the abiltiy to be effective remotely is something people really want. It is one of the reasons that iWork is so successful. I believe we not only have to have top quality support for the JDS iWork toolkit components but we also have a service that will load people's machine with the software for them. The support has to be as great as the product itself. We want everyone to be very successful using JDS!