Sun Tells More of Mad Hatter

Sun Microsystems is giving hints about its upcoming open-source based desktop suite, dubbed Project Mad Hatter. The company is proffering the suite as an alternative to Microsoft Windows, claiming it is more secure, less complex, and less expensive.

Bundled Apps

Slated to be on the market in the fourth quarter of 2003, Mad Hatter will run on Sun Solaris, SuSe Linux AG, and RedHat Linux. It will include StarOffice, a Sun office suite based on OpenOffice.org that reads and writes all Microsoft file formats, according to Sun.

The Mad Hatter suite will also employ the open-source Web browser, Mozilla, and will use GNU network object model (GNOME), a Linux windows manager with a similar look and feel to Microsoft Windows, according to Gord Sissons, director of products and technology for Sun Microsystems Canada.

"We think the maturing of the (open-source) software has now reached a point where it's acceptable to end users. It really gives them a user experience very similar to what they'd encounter in a Microsoft desktop," Sissons says. "But we also think there is an opportunity to dramatically lower the cost of deploying and managing those desktops."

According to Sun's calculations, it currently costs companies about $160 per user per month to deploy a functional Microsoft Windows desktop. Sissons says Mad Hatter could reduce costs to approximately $50 per user per month.

Most of the savings come from reduced costs of software licensing, he says.

No Conflict

Sissons indicates that Sun will eventually roll out two editions of Mad Hatter, a standard edition for small businesses and home users, and an enterprise edition that will include network management tools for large enterprises.

The concept of Mad Hatter is similar to Lindows, an open-source desktop manager based on Linux, which Sun also supports.

But Sun's Lindows support is not is not threatened because the company primarily targets enterprises with Mad Hatter, Sissons notes.

The full details of Project Mad Hatter will be released at Sun's user conference, SunNetwork, scheduled for September 16 through 18 in San Francisco.