Sun Mad as a Hatter over Microsoft worm

With a worm designed to exploit a Windows flaw once again in the news, Sun Microsystems has decided to bring forward the registration date for its open source rival to Microsoft.

Dubbed Project Mad Hatter, the Linux-based desktop is being promoted by Sun as a more secure and less expensive alternative to Windows.

To take advantage of any fears surrounding the Blaster worm, which will launch a denial of service attack against Microsoft on the sixteenth of every month using insecure computers, Sun has opened registration for its desktop alternative early.

"By engineering security into its infrastructure from the start, Project Mad Hatter offers a radical reduction in complexity and security exposure the MSBlast worm has once again highlighted," Sun stated.

Project Mad Hatter, which formally launches in September, includes Sun's Linux, the Microsoft-compatible StarOffice personal office suite, and the latest version of the Java technology platform.

The Gnome graphical user interface, together with SunONE mail and calendaring, are also included in the package.

Jonathan Schwartz, executive vice president of software at Sun, said in a statement: "It is our belief corporate America should accelerate their evaluation of alternatives to Microsoft, and it is for this reason we are opening registration for Project Mad Hatter."

Complete Project Mad Hatter details will be released at Sun's annual user conference, SunNetwork, next month. To register for Project Mad Hatter interested parties should send an email to madhatter@sun.com