Sun to adopt Eazel desktop for Solaris operating system

By Todd R. Weiss

December 19, 2000 12:00 PM ET

Computerworld - Open-source desktop software vendor Eazel Inc. has tied the knot with Sun Microsystems Inc. to provide its easier-to-use Nautilus desktop for Sun's Solaris Unix-based operating system.
This is the second major partnering announcement made this month by Mountain View, Calif.-based Eazel. A similar agreement was announced earlier with Dell Computer Corp. to load Nautilus onto all of that company's Linux-equipped desktop and laptop PCs (see story). Dell also invested an undisclosed amount of money in Eazel.
Under the agreement, Mountain View-based Sun will distribute Nautilus, an improved, easier-to-use screen environment, on the upcoming Gnome 2.0 desktop interface for Sun's Solaris operating system.
"We are pleased to join Eazel in developing a superior end-user experience for our customers," said Pat Sueltz, Sun's vice president of software, in a statement. "The momentum is clearly building behind a new user environment based on open-source technology and the Internet."
Dan Kusnetzky, an analyst at IDC, said the deal is significant for Eazel.
"It's obviously a major thing because they've gotten yet another major vendor to say that this software ... is going to be used on their systems," Kusnetzky said.
For Sun, which sells mostly servers, desktop interfaces are less useful for customers, he said, but the marketing value in this deal could be beneficial.
"I think what Sun is trying to do at this point is find a way to wrap themselves up in the marketing glory of open-source software without committing to it at any deep level," Kusnetzky said.
The two companies will also work together to push for the adoption of an Eazel Network User Environment standard, along with internationalization of the Gnome standard.
Sun's StarOffice software suite will be the default document viewer for StarOffice and Microsoft Office files in Nautilus. Under the agreement, Sun will develop StarOffice components for integration into the Nautilus environment.
The relationship between the two companies will also include Sun participating in Eazel's Web site and featuring Eazel in its sales and marketing training programs.
Related stories:

Bulletin: Sun to buy maker of Linux server appliances, Sept. 19, 2000

Key hardware vendors tightening their embrace of Linux, Aug. 11, 2000

Unix vendors adopt Gnome desktop, Aug. 16, 2000

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