For a couple of days now I have been keeping track of a certain wordpress blog maintained by Ted Haeger. He is an open source evangelist who (in his own words) is working to motivate the Novell user community. And not surprisingly his blog is full of news related to SuSE Linux and how Novell is working with the open source community to bring a more polished Operating System to the users. But what caught my fancy was the interesting mockups screenshots he has posted of the "Computer Menu" of the upcoming SuSE enterprise desktop ver 10 which showcases a unique design deviating from the normal menu found in Gnome.
Fig: Novel has been hard at work in providing the finishing touches to the desktop in such a way that the user is presented a desktop which is clean, attractive and free from clutter. And looking at the mockups of the computer menu, the results already look really interesting. Apart from the usual productivity applications that are bundled by default in most Linux distributions, SuSE enterprise desktop 10 will also have a well integrated Beagle desktop search, Tomboy notes application, Banshee music player and F-Spot - the photo management software.
The enterprise desktop is at present in a closed beta program and the final version is hoped to be released in the coming July. In redesigning the desktop and the menus, Novell has gone the Red Hat way in providing an integrated look and feel for many of the apps. And the desktop doesn't look anything like Gnome though it is really Gnome. It would be interesting to see the final result when it is released in July.
The enterprise desktop is at present in a closed beta program and the final version is hoped to be released in the coming July. In redesigning the desktop and the menus, Novell has gone the Red Hat way in providing an integrated look and feel for many of the apps. And the desktop doesn't look anything like Gnome though it is really Gnome. It would be interesting to see the final result when it is released in July.
Does that mean I will switch from Ubuntu to the latest SuSE desktop when it is released ? Well, I am open to try and test any Linux distribution. But what attracts me towards Ubuntu is its unique philosophy and the way it is practiced. For instance, will Novell hand out free CDs to anyone who asks for it?
Being a corporation whose aim is to first and foremost make profit, it is doubtful if they will go the Ubuntu way. Also I believe Ubuntu has a strong community support behind it, I dare say rivaling even its grand daddy Debian.
But then Novell is gunning for enterprise customers who have the deep pockets to shell out the money that Novell charges for its Linux distribution and in return, they get a fully polished OS without the loop holes found in Windows and which contain all the (proprietary) drivers which are necessary to make their hardware work flawlessly.
Being a corporation whose aim is to first and foremost make profit, it is doubtful if they will go the Ubuntu way. Also I believe Ubuntu has a strong community support behind it, I dare say rivaling even its grand daddy Debian.
But then Novell is gunning for enterprise customers who have the deep pockets to shell out the money that Novell charges for its Linux distribution and in return, they get a fully polished OS without the loop holes found in Windows and which contain all the (proprietary) drivers which are necessary to make their hardware work flawlessly.
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