Sun Microsystems Inc. will team with software makers Ximian Inc. and Wipro Ltd. to complete work on a version of the GNOME desktop for Sun's Solaris operating system, the companies announced Monday.
Sun has long said it plans to offer the popular GNOME graphical user interface along with the CDE (Common Desktop Environment) it currently includes with Solaris. Sun plans to have a download of a GNOME 2.0-based product ready for users by the third quarter. The software will work with Solaris 8 and Solaris 9, which is due out by mid-year, said Mike Rogers, vice president and general manager for desktop and office productivity at Sun.
The GNOME 2.0 release is a major upgrade to one of the most used GUIs in the open source community. Sun has made several contributions to GNOME 2.0, including work on accessibility features for the handicapped and language support, Rogers said.
Bangalore-based Wipro will work on merging the CDE interface with GNOME 2.0 and testing the software.