![Sun microsystems java desktop](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/27/Sun_microsystems_java_desktop.png)
Java Desktop System, briefly known as OpenSolaris Desktop, is a
legacy
In law, a legacy is something held and transferred to someone as their inheritance, as by will and testament. Personal effects, family property, marriage property or collective property gained by will of real property.
Legacy or legacies may refer ...
desktop environment
In computing, a desktop environment (DE) is an implementation of the desktop metaphor made of a bundle of programs running on top of a computer operating system that share a common graphical user interface (GUI), sometimes described as a graphica ...
developed first by
Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Sun for short) was an American technology company that sold computers, computer components, software, and information technology services and created the Java programming language, the Solaris operating system, ZFS, the ...
and then by
Oracle Corporation
Oracle Corporation is an American multinational computer technology corporation headquartered in Austin, Texas. In 2020, Oracle was the third-largest software company in the world by revenue and market capitalization. The company sells da ...
after the 2010 Oracle acquisition of Sun. Java Desktop System is available for
Solaris
Solaris may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Literature, television and film
* ''Solaris'' (novel), a 1961 science fiction novel by Stanisław Lem
** ''Solaris'' (1968 film), directed by Boris Nirenburg
** ''Solaris'' (1972 film), directed by ...
and was once available for
Linux
Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which ...
. The Linux version was discontinued after Solaris was released as
open source software
Open-source software (OSS) is computer software that is released under a license in which the copyright holder grants users the rights to use, study, change, and distribute the software and its source code to anyone and for any purpose. Open ...
in 2005. Java Desktop System aims to provide a system familiar to the average computer user with a full suite of office
productivity software
Productivity software (also called personal productivity software or office productivity software) is application software used for producing information (such as documents, presentations, worksheets, databases, charts, graphs, digital paintings, ...
such as an
office suite
Productivity software (also called personal productivity software or office productivity software) is application software used for producing information (such as documents, presentations, worksheets, databases, charts, graphs, digital paintings, ...
, a
web browser
A web browser is application software for accessing websites. When a user requests a web page from a particular website, the browser retrieves its files from a web server and then displays the page on the user's screen. Browsers are used on ...
,
email
Electronic mail (email or e-mail) is a method of exchanging messages ("mail") between people using electronic devices. Email was thus conceived as the electronic ( digital) version of, or counterpart to, mail, at a time when "mail" meant ...
, calendaring, and instant messaging.
Despite being known as the Java Desktop System, it is not actually written in
Java
Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...
. Rather, it is built around a tweaked version of
GNOME
A gnome is a mythological creature and diminutive spirit in Renaissance magic and alchemy, first introduced by Paracelsus in the 16th century and later adopted by more recent authors including those of modern fantasy literature. Its characte ...
along with other common free software projects, which are written mostly in
C and
C++
C++ (pronounced "C plus plus") is a high-level general-purpose programming language created by Danish computer scientist Bjarne Stroustrup as an extension of the C programming language, or "C with Classes". The language has expanded significan ...
. The name reflected Sun's promotion of the product as an outlet for corporate users to deploy software written for the Java platform.
Versions
Sun first bundled a preview release of GNOME 1.4 on a separate CD for Solaris 8.
JDS version 2 included:
*
Java
Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...
*
GNOME
A gnome is a mythological creature and diminutive spirit in Renaissance magic and alchemy, first introduced by Paracelsus in the 16th century and later adopted by more recent authors including those of modern fantasy literature. Its characte ...
(using the Blueprint theme)
*
StarOffice
StarOffice is a discontinued proprietary software, proprietary office suite, intended to compete with the marketing-leading Microsoft Office. It served as the basis for open-source suites OpenOffice.org and LibreOffice. StarOffice supported the ...
*
Mozilla
Mozilla (stylized as moz://a) is a free software community founded in 1998 by members of Netscape. The Mozilla community uses, develops, spreads and supports Mozilla products, thereby promoting exclusively free software and open standards, wi ...
*
Evolution
Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...
*
MP3
MP3 (formally MPEG-1 Audio Layer III or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III) is a coding format for digital audio developed largely by the Fraunhofer Society in Germany, with support from other digital scientists in the United States and elsewhere. Origin ...
and CD player
*
Java Media Framework
The Java Media Framework (JMF) is a Java library that enables audio, video and other time-based media to be added to Java applications and applets. This optional package, which can capture, play, stream, and transcode multiple media formats, exte ...
's Java Media Player
*
Gaim
Pidgin (formerly named Gaim) is a free and open-source multi-platform instant messaging client, based on a library named libpurple that has support for many instant messaging protocols, allowing the user to simultaneously log in to various s ...
multi-service instant messaging
*
RealPlayer
RealPlayer, formerly RealAudio Player, RealOne Player and RealPlayer G2, is a cross-platform media player app, developed by RealNetworks. The media player is compatible with numerous container file formats of the multimedia realm, including MP ...
JDS Release 2 was available for Solaris and for the
SuSE
SUSE ( , ) is a German-based multinational open-source software company that develops and sells Linux products to business customers. Founded in 1992, it was the first company to market Linux for enterprise. It is the developer of SUSE Linux Ent ...
-based Linux distribution.
JDS Release 3 was released in 2005. It was included with Solaris 10 — upon installation of Solaris, one has the choice of using either the
CDE or JDS. It was based on GNOME 2.6 and available only for the Solaris 10 platform.
OpenSolaris Desktop
OpenSolaris received its own version of the Java Desktop System. OpenSolaris Desktop was tied to the OpenSolaris operating system, and did not have its own release schedule.
OpenSolaris Desktop 01 (released October 28, 2005) was based on GNOME 2.10 and OpenSolaris Desktop 02 (released December 23, 2005) was based on GNOME 2.12. The last version was released with the release of OpenSolaris 2009.6, and was based on Gnome 2.24. It also included Firefox 3.1, OpenOffice 3 and Sun
VirtualBox
Oracle VM VirtualBox (formerly Sun VirtualBox, Sun xVM VirtualBox and Innotek VirtualBox) is a type-2 hypervisor for x86 virtualization developed by Oracle Corporation.
VirtualBox was originally created by Innotek GmbH, which was acquired by ...
. The OpenSolaris Desktop line of the Java Desktop System became defunct with the end of the OpenSolaris project.
Availability
With the end of the OpenSolaris project, JDS Release 3 is now the last release of the project on a currently supported operating system Solaris 10. Newer Solaris based operating systems have abandoned the Java Desktop System. Solaris 11 and projects based upon the OpenSolaris codebase such as
OpenIndiana
OpenIndiana is a free and open-source illumos distribution Unix-derived System V SVR4 operating system, started as OpenSolaris continuation project. Forked from OpenSolaris after OpenSolaris was discontinued by Oracle Corporation, OpenIndiana ...
use a stock version of GNOME.
See also
*
Project Looking Glass
Project Looking Glass is a now inactive free software project under the GPL to create an innovative 3D desktop environment for Linux, Solaris, and Windows. It was sponsored by Sun Microsystems.
Looking Glass is programmed in the Java language ...
References
External links
Oracle DocumentationOS News reviewDecember 2003
eWeek ReviewDecember 2003
{{Sun Microsystems
Desktop environments
Java platform software
Oracle software
Sun Microsystems software
Desktop environments based on GTK
Free desktop environments
GNOME
Software forks