About JDShelp.org

Sun's Java™ Desktop System (JDS), a complete distribution of the GNU/Linux operating system, became available for the first time in December 2003. While other distributors focused on Linux in the server space, Sun brought out the first desktop to compete with Microsoft Windows in 15 years. JDS enjoyed a miraculous reception in the market. Within the first three weeks of its release, JDS became profitable and recouped all its Research & Development costs proving a pent-up demand existed for an alternative desktop to those offered in the market.

JDShelp.org came about to fill a need Sun may not have expected would exist. Long-time Linux and Windows power users began adopting JDS in record numbers. According to Sun, JDS was not built with such users in mind.

JDSHelp.org began with the idea of providing additional Linux software that Sun did not include with JDS but which we had grown accustomed to seeing. The inspiration for our site came from Sunhelp.org which paved the way for community support of Sun products. Within a short while we discovered a larger need to provide a venue where knowledgable Linux community members could share their knowledge with others, provide community-level user support, information, news and high-quality RPMs for the Java ™ Desktop System. Our goal is to facilitate rapid problem solving through the use of a portal of on-line resources including tutorials, an RPM repository and general help.

About Sun's Java desktop System

The Sun FAQ for JDS contains this question:

Q.	What are the target markets for Java Desktop System?

A.	Emerging markets, including Asia Pacific and the Middle East.
	Enterprises populated with low-impact office workers- particularly in banking, health care and customer call centers.
	Government branch offices and city government, in US, EMEA and APAC.
	Mid-Market Enterprises
	Developers

As you may have noticed, Sun did not include small office, home office, laptop, desktop publishers, home and/or educational users. This presents a slight problem for users in these market categories. JDS provides a quality desktop at a most affordable price. Users in these market segments want to use JDS and we want additional features and hardware compatibility Sun did not include in JDS.

JDS uses a GNU/Linux runtime environment originally built for Sun by SuSE. Sun added a custom desktop built with components of GNOME versions 2.2 and 2.4. Sun added the StarOffice 7 productivity suite, the Mozilla browser, Gaim instant messaging client, an Outlook-like Mail and Calendaring program called Evolution, the Real audio and video plugin, a Flash client and their Java Runtime environment. Additionally, Sun made adjustments to the configuration of all components providing screen rendering and resolution equal to Windows XP and Apple Macintosh OS X.

Additionally, Sun had JDS built with a stable version of the main Linux compiler library used in the Commercial Enterprise versions of SuSE and Red Hat Linux. Other Linux desktops use a more experimental version of the main Linux compiler library, which left most of the pre-build Linux desktop software incompatible with JDS.

Experienced Linux users had little problem with compiling desktop software on JDS. However, new users and those accustom to simply downloading pre-built versions of popular utilities did not know how to build source-code binaries on JDS. Rather than going to the popular desktop projects to request JDS versions of their software, a group of us decided to build them ourselves and include them on this web site.

The founders of JDSHelp.org consider the Java Desktop System the best all-around PC operating system ever built. We want to insure JDS becomes known to our friends, family, co-workers and political representatives. We believe Sun Microsystems has a great roadmap and a wonderful future. We hope you share our vision and wish to participate with us.