To me, the choice is obvious. Either get behind the Linux desktop movement or don’t. But either way, get committed.

SAN FRANCISCO - Sun Microsystems (Profile, Products, Articles) is pulling back plans to market and sell its Linux-based desktop operating system and is considering giving the technology to the open-source community, the company quietly admitted at JavaOne this week.

John Loiacono, executive vice president of Sun software, said Sun’s plans for the Java Desktop System (JDS) have “changed slightly,” and Sun may open the operating system to community development.

“There will be less of an investment of putting JDS on Linux,” Loiacono said. “More likely, you’ll see us look to the community, to give that to the community to run with it.”

Sun had high hopes for JDS when it launched the system under the code name Project Mad Hatter in September 2002. JDS is the integration of several open-source offerings — including the StarOffice suite, the Mozilla browser, the GNOME interface and the Evolution e-mail and calendar application — into a desktop operating system. [Read the rest]