RSSNovell Shows Off New Linux Desktop
By Ed Oswald | Published March 9, 2006, 12:53 PM
Novell unveiled at the CeBIT Electronics Show in Germany Thursday its next-generation operating system, called SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop. The release is the successor to Novell Desktop Linux, and the company has hopes it will lead to more widespread adoption of the platform.
Advanced power management, integrated desktop search, and GUI and application improvements are all central to the new release. Novell says that these enhancements also make the Linux platform a much more viable alternative to Microsoft at a tenth of the price.
While exact pricing has not yet been announced, it is expected to be similar to the $50 per system per year currently charged for Novell Desktop Linux 9.
Analysts say the company is doing the right thing by focusing on the business user with this release, a market that has generally been passed over by the Linux community.
"Novell is keeping a promise it made last year to invest in delivering a desktop that is designed for the business user, rather than for experienced Linux users," Ovum research director Gary Barnett said of the new release.
Novell sees the upcoming launch of Windows Vista as a possible boon to sales. When Software Assurance first surfaced from Microsoft four years ago, Linux received a bump in both interest and adoption. As IT administrators will soon be faced with an upgrade decision concerning Vista, Novell thinks Linux could receive a similar boost.
"This desktop is already generating great interest in businesses of all sizes, and it represents a tremendous new opportunity for Novell," said the company's executive vice president and CTO Jeff Jaffe.
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop would also include a Novell version of OpenOffice.org 2.0, the popular open source productivity suite. The company's version adds support for Visual Basic macros, which it says puts it in better competition with Microsoft Office.
As well as being compatible with Microsoft Windows products, Novell pointed out that it is also compatible with IBM's Lotus Notes and Domino, as well as the company's own GroupWise product.
"When we started work on SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop, we didn't want to build the best Linux desktop for business, we wanted to build the best desktop for business, period," vice president of Linux desktop engineering Nat Friedman said. "By listening to users, we believe we have created a business desktop that leapfrogs the market."
The company said it had conducted hundreds of usability tests as well as shooting some 1,500 hours of user interaction video during the platform's development phase.
Novell expects to deliver the new SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10.0 in the summer of this year.
I got a demo CD of this last week and it ROCKS!
Way to go Novell for developing a pretty slick build/UI.
NICE!!
Score: 0
|The more applications that move over to a browser interface, the more penetration non-ms Operating Systems will have.
After all, if all my users needed was a browser, why give them all the extra crap that comes in windows (solitaire, Outlook express, IE, Media player...need I go on). I could by refurbed boxes at $150 a pop and throw NDL on it for $50 a year. I would save enough money to hire extra computer geeks to help users figure out how to use firefox (now click the little icon...), and still have enough to get a bigger internet connection, that new VOIP phone system I would like to get, and maybe even get some custom web-based application design done to upgrade and improve my business sofware, then I could buy a new boat, and get those rims I want for my car, and have enough money left from all that to send Bill Gates a Christmas Card thanking him for not keeping up with the rest of the tech world.
I would care not a whit that my users desktop machines' OS would not let them download the newest weather watcher widget to their machine and suck up resources with their spyware infested little games.
Hopefully you can glean from this the fact that admins and businessmen alike are fed up with the upgrade treadmill and the desktop platforms overhead expenses. How thin is the line that keeps businesses and goverment from jumping off that Microsoft circus train.
I will show some math. I would estimate that I could save a business $800-$1200 per user (3 year technology upgrade cycle) with NLD and cheaper hardware if all their apps were compatible or web based (still a big if). If there are only 100 workers, that really adds up quickly.
So we are not there yet, but I am definitely keeping my eye on this one. Of course there are those people and companies that still use software that is tied to the Wintel environment. They would not be good canidates for this. But there are several industries where web-based applications are gaining ground.
Score: 0
|Now that is a post from a true I.T. patriot. I especially like the part about stalling competition and the cost savings per user. Now if there could be some kind of true emulation technique that worked great for all the companies still running windows applications special to them we would be all set. I give linux another few years and they will start making a dent in Ms's share. The real problem is that there is really no way to tell. I mean ms can count how many licenses they sold in a given year. When the software is free, and doesn't have a limit on how many machines they can be put on, how do you truely know how many users there are or how big the install base is? If we can get drivers to install as easy in linux as in windows as well then we really would be set. My only gripe is the gaming, but of course that doesn't have much to do with a business adapting it.
Score: 0
|few hours back there was nothing and now there are ads almost everywhere, it hurts my eyes.
im happy about the fact that BN is making money but it is one too many ads.
Score: 0
|oh stupid me i just forgot to enable ad filter in the outpost
sorry
Score: 0
|drumcat speaks the ugly truth. As much as we want to see a true open standard create a superior OS, it ain't happening in a capitalist world.
Score: 0
|Linux will never get anywhere until the Linux community unifies. If it ever does, people might take notice. Until then, it's just unpolished UI in front of a command line.
Score: 0
|wow, a user that actually knows that Linux is crap, amazing.. Well said..
So its a glorified command line.. I like it.
Score: 0
|Spoken like a true MS idiot that refuses to learn new things & likes their system hacked & crashing.
Score: 0
|drumcat is right, but he never said Linux sux.
Score: 0
|I agree, i'll bet that those people that bashed linux above have never even used it, the old myth is that nothing works on linux and its hard to use. That myth is now proven untrue in todays linux distros.
Score: 0
|I Have
Score: 0
|The problem is it is true.
Score: 0
|Prove it.
I'm waiting.
Score: 0
|*I don't believe it.*
Score: 0
|i've used debian for a couple of months and after learning a lot of things and getting everything working right, i still missed windows. i dont think ill ever go back to linux again.
Score: 0
|Yes....because windows is extremely polished. Most linux desktop environments are more polished than windows.
Score: 0
|It has it's place, sometimes it's useful on a desktop and others it's not. Depends on your needs really, like anything else.
Score: 0
|i agree with drumcat 100%.
tooooooooooo many different standards are stopping many people adopting Linux, but at the same time too many standards result into faster development and more innovation.
in my opinion there should be no more than 3 distros , and they should not have diff. standards instead they should just provide support service .
Score: 0
|Tell me about i acully heard there is a Linux distro of the month club out there that will be (oviosly) a different distro mailed to you every month.
Score: 0
|funny
Score: 0
|Just load any linux distribution and it proves the point
Score: 0
|Have used Mandrake, redhat, and others. They are good in some areas but in general Windows walks all over them.
Score: 0
|WOW, I've been so enlightened.
You are so right, Linux sucks!
Idiot
Score: 0
|How about something substantial now?
Score: 0
|This is my token Linux comment.
Linux Sucks. Google is Evil.
Score: 0
|I've been using SUSE OSS alongside my windows machine in an all-Novell environment here at work for about the last year. I gave NLD a try, but found it a bit too rough and unpolished for my taste. If the camera-footage from a recent showing of SLED is in any way indicative of the distribution's performance, you can bet the farm that I'll be first in line to fire it up whenever it's released.
Score: 0
|"you can bet the farm that I'll be first in line to fire it up whenever it's released."
You'll be FIRST in line? Well I don't have a farm to bet...what other bets are you taking?
Score: 0
|