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InfoWorld: Novell hits a desktop home run with SLED 10

infoworld.com — For the forthcoming SLED (Suse Linux Enterprise Desktop) 10, Novell went back to the drawing board to rethink what makes a good desktop. The result is extremely impressive... SLED 10 is hands down the most polished desktop Linux distribution I've ever used -- and that includes Ubuntu.

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  • Create, on 10/12/2007, -3/+12damn, i want so badly to try this out >_<

    cannot wait for it to be final
    • texpundit, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10Same here. I've got a ThinkPad R32 on which I would LOVE to try this out. Especially if it's using the new Linux kernel that's purported to have vastly better WiFi support. Even with Ubuntu, I've had hell trying to get my Linksys PCMCIA wifi card to work. I think I'd probably pass out if I could get a Linux distro that would allow for quick and painless wifi config.
    • xamox, on 10/12/2007, -6/+7you could always try beta. I'll keep rolling with Gentoo, no other distro by far has come even close to it's speed on any of my machines. And using portage is just as easy as apt-get, synaptic, yum, smartrpm, blah, blah, blah. Just have to wait for the compile time. But you normally compile so little compared to how often you run it. It is well worth the offset.
    • thesimplefix, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Fuctionality/Polish wise how is it compared to Suse 10.1?
    • Tezgno, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12Actually, SLED 10 is the "commercialized" version of SUSE Linux 10. For the everyday community user SuSE Linux 10.1 (which I believe someone below said if there was a non-enterprise version) would be what you want. It has the XGL and WiFi enhancements found in SLED 10. The difference between the two is that one has commercial Novell support (patches, service packs, technical support, etc) and one has community support. Unless you just absolutely want to pay for SLED 10, you'll get the same general OS and experience by getting SuSE Linux 10.1.
    • Beanlover, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5@Tezgno

      I wondered if that was the case...thanks!
    • cg0def, on 10/12/2007, -7/+6How come that there is always some truly misinformed Gentoo user that has to plug this insane distro? First of all this post has nothing to do with Gentoo and 2nd it's not that compiling software is hard but I really have better things to do with my time ( like a job and a life ).

      Anyway as far as SLED 10 goes ... hum there is always opensuse which is pretty much the same thing without all the corporate plugs. No reason why you couldn't use that untill SLED 10 comes out. Plus unless you are connected to an enterprise grade network with all the services that comes with it SLED 10 is an overkill. My hat's off to Novell though for all the work they've put in Linux development. And yes it is way better than Ubuntu ( which is not really that hard ).
    • ordminute, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2This all sounds good, but I'd like to hear more about whether installing software on 'SLED' is any easier than it is with OpenSuse.

      I come across many ex-Suse users that have switched to a Debian based system for it's ease of use.. Until Suse sorts this out it will be a continuation of their 'heartbreak day two' legacy. Tell me why I should believe otherwise, and why.

      Notice how few people you come across that move from a Debian-based system (like Ubuntu or Xandros) to Suse? The reverse however is very common.
    • diggapleaze, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4wow, some of you guys are completely wrong. No, SLED10 is not going to be just OpenSuse 10.1 with a price tag and corporate plugs. Although as a product it's going to be released parallel to Suse, SLED is a distro all on its own. And it's still going to be free as in beer and speech, you only have to pay if you want official Novell support, just like NLD 9. For new users, this is nice, but for everyone else, we can just waive that fee. Xgl is going to be *built in* for the first time in any distro, not just offered as an optional package. Plus there are going to be tons of UI improvements that may be adopted by gnome in general (go to betterdesktop.org to see focus group testing videos).

      These sorts of things are unprecedented in the Linux world, and is the first serious push ever to get Linux not just on corporate desktops, but also on home desktops as well. By the way, its going to be marketed and advertised as a serious user-friendly comptetitor to Windows XP, Vista, and OS X. Gold star to Novell for trailblazing where even Red Hat hasn't gone before.

      edit: btw it beats the pants off Xandros/Linspire. Its actually beautiful enough to compete with OS X.
    • samdu, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Installing software hard on OpenSuSE 10.1?!?!? Umm... Click Yast, click "Software management" find package, click "Install." How much easier could it be? If it's a package that's not in the list, you just double click the package and the OS asks you if you want to install it and if you say, "Yes," it does. Thus far I've not tried to install anything on SuSE 10.1 that has proven to be any more difficult than installing anything in Windows, if even AS difficult.
    • Jaymoon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1^ Not everything is that easy to install....

      I have to admit, using "smart install _____" is very handy. But as far as stuff you have to "compile(?)" using "make install" etc.... It's pretty much been hit or miss for me. Half the time it works fine... The other half I get errors, that I have no idea what they mean...

      :/
  • torano, on 10/12/2007, -4/+7July, my friend. Watch novell.com.
  • stephano, on 10/12/2007, -4/+4they will ship it by mid-july. i know.
  • tapo, on 10/12/2007, -3/+14Just goes to show that Linux is finally getting itself together, and what with the mixed reception to Windows Vista, its Linux's time to shine.

    Question is, will it ever be used outside of the enterprise?
    • thesimplefix, on 10/12/2007, -3/+14I'm a linux fan, and I don't think Linux is ready for the home user yet -- I use Ubuntu 6.06 at home and prior to that I was using 5.10, but I still do not think it's ready. I also had 2 different users (more technical ones) from the office try out Linux on their home pc -- both were happy at first, but after 3 or 4 weeks they cleaned it off for Windows XP again. The one that tried Ubuntu 6.06 found it a pain (even after installing Automatix, and EasyUbuntu) to get *.mov files to stream from FireFox, and some websites just wouldn't work for him (ya, I know this isn't Linux's fault -- it's a microsoft thing - or just dumb developer droids). His other gripe was that he couldn't connect/access his mp3 player (i've had the same gripe with my iRiver). The other user tried out Suse 10.1 -- he loved it at first, but he had trouble installing new linux programs that he found while surfing the web -- basically if it didn't have a suse package it became cumbersome to install software -- or it least it's not straight foreward.....

      Is linux ready for the desktop - sadly, but no! These two users prove that for me!
    • kettlechips, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1How DO you get Quicktime to play in Firefox?
  • scooterMX, on 10/12/2007, -29/+6What does this mean for Novell... I wondered if they would ever recover from WordPerfect...
    • tapo, on 10/12/2007, -6/+20Wrong company, you're thinking Corel.
    • murrolems, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6Novell bought Corel about 10 or so years ago, not one of their smarter moves.
    • mancat, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6You'd be surprised by how many offices are still using WordPerfect in lieu of Office. There are a lot of secretaries and other office personnel who have been using it for years, and wish to continue using it. WordPerfect is still a great word processor, in some ways better than Word, though the rest of the WPOffice suite is generally rotten.
    • cthclain, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Actually, the order was as I remember it, Word Perfect started as its own company. It was then bought by Novell. It was then sold to Corel who then let it go down hill from there. I never heard of Corel being bought.
    • scooterMX, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3um, ya, it was supposed to be a joke. And Wordperfect is still the app of choice for a LOT of law firms out there...
    • dainbramage559, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3In the lawfirm I work at, we use wordperfect. I think it is superior to Word.
    • edmicman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3It would be awesome if they'd open up WordPerfect and port it to Linux, eh?
    • ArmedGeek, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I don't care if they opensource it or not, porting it would be very beneficial.
    • kettlechips, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2It was ported but abandoned after one release.
  • glyph, on 10/12/2007, -4/+6Year of the Desktop for Linux!
    /tongue-in-cheek

    Truthfully I'm glad for the Suse guys if it helps Linux adoption, and maybe beats back the hordes of Ubuntu fanatics lately!
    • cmiz, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6We Ubuntu fanatics are not going anywhere... ;-)

      But kudos to SuSE! I'm a fan of all open source, and I'll certainly check this one out.
  • dustedbunny, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6We use Novell at my place of work and it's wonderful as it is. Makes everything very organized, etc. Extremely easy to use.

    I'd love to see this, I guess I'll just have to wait. I'll digg this, but I think that the article could use a screenshot or two. ;)
    • torano, on 10/12/2007, -2/+17http://www.novell.com/products/desktop/preview.html
    • dustedbunny, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Thanks torano.

      Looks awesome. Our department recently got 19 inch LCD flat panel dual monitors. So this would be...just awesome...

      :)
    • Snakey, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1This is hot, but really, I'm used to the apps/locations/system -menu, hope that I can still use this (maybe for a panel that I'll hide (or top panel))
    • timf, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I guess they implemented it as a Gnome panel applet, so you only have to remove the custom Novell one and add the original Gnome one again.

      I don't know it for sure, but from a technical point of view that would be the best solution, I hope the Novell guys share this opinion.
  • NICU, on 10/12/2007, -10/+8He should rethink what makes a good article. If you talk about graphics, menus, and the look-and-feel then pictures and graphics help. His main love of this distro is that it recognizes his laptop's wide-aspect screen. Suse is good but this article is a huge waste of time. I know the main point of this article is to say that someone likes SUSE more than Ubuntu... big deal...
    • dainbramage559, on 10/12/2007, -4/+4I completely agree. I feel like this article was a waste of my time.
  • pabster, on 10/12/2007, -5/+11Makes sense. SuSE has always been (IMHO) the most polished of the major Linux distributions.

    Now watch this thread get sunk by Ubuntu fanboys.
    • imjustabill, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10Being an ubuntu fanboy myself, I must sat this looks quite impressive!
    • tapo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7Same here. If OpenSuSE has the same technologies as SLED 10, then I'm switching.
    • Tsuroerusu, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5@ tapo
      "Same here. If OpenSuSE has the same technologies as SLED 10, then I'm switching."

      I can bring you some good news, because SUSE Linux does have the same technologies as SLED 10, GNOME, XGL, YaST, ZENworks etc. etc.

      And I'm sure someone will take the GNOME customizations from SLED 10 and bring them to the community distribution, SUSE Linux.
    • tapo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3@Tsuroerusu: After taking a more in-depth look at SUSE Linux 10.1, I'm considering a switch. However, because of the GNOME customizations, I'll also gladly shell out the $50 to Novell and get SLED.
  • MarkByers, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5XGL? Yep!

    'Moreover, fans of GUI glitter will appreciate the new, Mac OS-like Xgl desktop effects. Although disabled by default and officially unsupported on my card, they worked fine and provided fun eye candy (if not practical use).'
    • seanmc303, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5If you want the tasty XGL, use a newer Nvidia card in your machine. Nvidia has better driver support for Linux. I was left in the cold when I realized my old ATI Radeon 9000 wasn't going to be supported. I used to think there was no good reason to put a decent video card in a Linux machine. I have changed my ways.
    • cdmarcus, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4The Nvidia-glx drivers work great, but they broke both suspend and hibernate on my Ubuntu Dapper laptop.
  • cerisaac, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6Here is a link directly to some screen shots;
    http://www.novell.com/products/desktop/preview.html
    • thaeger, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7You might also check out http://www.novell.com/video/desktop/ to see SLED10 in action. These were some business-level videos we did back in early March.
    • UrsusMorologus, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0That network video... when are they going to find other stuff beside Windows? nfs:// please!

      And the claim about authenticating via LDAP, try authenticating root (UID 0) against LDAP in SUSE... Won't work, and it's the only distro I've had that problem with. I spent weeks trying to figure that one out and eventually gave up (seems like pam is locked to UID 0 and won't allow changing the credentials).

      Please, videos like these annoy people like me.
  • jeolmeun, on 10/12/2007, -8/+2Can it do a refresh rate greater than 60 Hz?
    • afx1, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8I haven't seen a Linux distro that can't...it's how you configure the system. FYI, almost every laptop maxes out at 60Hz, in case that's what you're referring to.
    • seanmc303, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3If you use a video card that is about 10 years old, no you can't. If you are using a video card less than 10 years old, yes, you can.
  • eddyc, on 10/12/2007, -17/+5Let me be the first fan boy to say Ubuntu can do all that and its free
    • CypherXero, on 10/12/2007, -13/+5Let me be the first realist to say that all *nix systems (UNIX, BSD, Linux) are ALL powerful. All Ubuntu has is shiny icons and an updated package management system. *nix is *nix. Get over it, fanboy.
    • right75, on 10/12/2007, -11/+0Yeah, it's excrement
    • right75, on 10/12/2007, -5/+3Haha

      I knew I would get dinged for dumping on Ubuntu

      Hahahaha
    • seanmc303, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Well guess what? SuSe 10.1 is also free with (as far as I can tell) all the same features as SLED. I have yet to meet one person who has preferred Unbuntu to the new SuSe 10.1. If there is someone out there who feels otherwise, I would love to know why.
    • mshade, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2@right75

      It wasn't exactly clear that you were dumping on Ubuntu. Looked more like you were jumping on the parent's bandwagon and saying SLED 10 was excrement...

      SLED 10 looks very promising. I took the time to view the press release video, and there is some good stuff happening. They are partnering with Dell and are going to have it offered as a preinstalled option, complete with ZENworks and the XEN virtualization system.

      Novell was also able to get Visual Basic macros working in OpenOffice. I don't know whether this is something they implemented, or something which is and has already been working in OO.org, but this is a major hurdle overcome. Think of how many businesses have Excel spreadsheets which were unusable under OO.org because of the macros implemented.

      This is huge.
  • jbuck74, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9Here's a review of SLED 10 versus Vista -- cool stuff.

    http://www.crn.com/sections/breakingnews/breakingnews.jhtml?articleId=188703320
    • NuttyAvatar, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Huh... comparing Vista vs SLED. I think i am biased for SLED and feel its uncomparable.
      By the way, i wonder how Microsoft cannot get things done with their highly paid workforce while all the part time opensource developers come up with stable, solid OSes? I am talking about OpenSuse and the like. Maybe SLED has an army of well paid developers?
    • tapo, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Microsoft has brilliant people, but terrible management. That's what makes the difference.
  • johnsmith45678, on 10/12/2007, -15/+6Even Ubuntu? That's not saying much, Ubuntu sucks ass.
    • KJay, on 10/12/2007, -4/+7Ubuntu has gone a long way in setting a precedent in linux usability. They have done more than any other distro to lower the linux learning curve. Even a seasoned linux user can appreciate simple menus and package management.
    • johnsmith45678, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Yep, it has come a long way. But it still has a loooooong way to go. Ergo, it currently sucks ass.
  • ajainy, on 10/12/2007, -9/+6Totally out of context.. I don;t think, Different companies like Red hat, ubuntu and SUSE can compete with Microsoft, unless they all come to common platform. Different flavors of linux is biggest hurdle with linux adoption.
    • Tsuroerusu, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3In case you didn't know, Linux is Linux, it's one platform!

      Unlike the UNIXes of old (AIX, HP-UX, Solaris, IRIX etc. etc.), Linux one platform.
    • raynevandunem, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Kernel-wise, yes.

      Otherwise, NO.

      There's an OS that looks/acts/works just like a "Linux" system, but uses the OpenSolaris kernel with APT (hence, NexentaOS). http://www.gnusolaris.org/gswiki

      It's POSIX that's the common platform here, not Linux.
  • devn3t, on 10/12/2007, -0/+13If you support Linux, it shouldn't be about who's distro can beat up who's. It should be "Go Linux" and "Great Job " when a distro does a good job.

    If you continue to say "my distro is better" or "my distro can do this or that AND it's FREE!" you're missing the entire point of Linux...that is, it is an alternative to the common herd Microsoft. So cheer instead of jeer. Pat on the back instead of Attack. Show the community you have backbone and can applaud a distro for offering an alternative to MicroScum! or disregard this advice and look like a childish moron fanboi. The ball is in your court.
    • NICU, on 10/12/2007, -10/+4Oh come on these are a bunch of IT nerds - they need to argue over distributions. They need to finally win at something! They come from a long history of being picked last in gym class and not being picked by girls at all. Give them this one moment of anonymous glory when their comment gets +2 diggs and their competitor gets buried. Yeah!
    • spindrift, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6I daresay that Linux isn't defined by its competition - it started as a hobby, as a derivative to an OS that predated Microsoft by years, and was created before Windows even hit version 2.0. It's become more of a serious alternative perhaps because of Microsoft being such a juggernaut, but the "core philosophy" of Linux has been freedom, security, stability and (lately) usability, regardless of whether anyone else was in the game. Since everybody's opinion of how each distro obtains those ideals differs, you have different camps forming behind their favorite implementation. All in good fun. IMHO, the only people who violate the "spirit" of Linux are those who consider themselves superior human beings for using the operating system in the first place, or who forgot that they used to sift through man pages themselves when it comes time to help others.
    • dobesov, on 10/12/2007, -6/+1You know the original point of linux was to be an alternitive to commercial UNIX...
    • mrtrick, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Well said.
    • raynevandunem, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1Um, no, Linux (a frickin' kernel) is not about "freedom", "community", and other similarly hype-ish *****.

      That's what GNU is/was about, with or without Linux (or without a kernel, either, LOL).

      And actually, YES. Competition is what commercially-supported distribution is supposed to be about.

      If you don't have good competition, you deprecate your engineering. If you deprecate your engineering, you come out with ***** products. Microsoft's a good example. Apple is a good example. Novell (and every other "Linux" company, for that matter) is a basket case of an example.

      Why do I say that for the Linux collective?

      Because distributors rely far too much upon outside developers (the very Linux kernel is a starting example). Why can't they make their own ***** distro look like their own ***** product rather than just another goddamned KDE or GNOME distro?

      Hell, Novell has enough money. Instead of making it look shiny with XGL, why don't they just burn that oldy, moldy piece of ***** known as X11 and come up with something original?

      Wake me when that happens.
  • right75, on 10/12/2007, -11/+6*gasp*

    How could ANYTHING possibly be better than Ubuntu?! Why, Ubuntu has to be one of the things most revered on digg. There couldn't be something better.
    • KJay, on 10/12/2007, -6/+9No, you are confusing Ubuntu with Apple.
  • Beanlover, on 10/12/2007, -3/+4If SLED 10 is $50 per...why buy it over getting Windows XP/Vista preinstalled on an OEM machine? It's the same price (give or take) with definite software support for hardware.

    I respect Novell very much but I think they should make the server edition rock solid and sell it + SLAs and give away the desktop. Build in seamless server integration into that desktop distro but not so much it cripples those who don't ever log into one of their servers and would use it for a stand-alone desktop.

    I know they aren't shooting at the consumer market...but some of today's consumers are tomorrow's business owners and they will be looking for enterprise solutions to stuff. If they are familiar with Novell because of their excellent desktop...why would they go with anything else? Isn't that how MS does it? Seems to me they are pretty successful so far (MS that is).
    • Tezgno, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8Actually, SLED 10 isn't for the normal consumer. It's for businesses who are wanting to move to a Linux desktop solution with software that easily integrates with their existing enterprise Novell products (along with the SLAs, etc). For the everyday SuSE user, SuSE Linux 10.1 (which is free) is all you would need. Novell isn't planning to get rid of that. Rather, they are running two parallel OS's, one that is community supported and one that is certified, similar to RHEL and Fedora Core.
    • Beanlover, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4@Tezgno

      Again, thanks for the great info! :) Makes sense.
  • kamilmarkowicz, on 10/12/2007, -5/+1Although the new features are definitely a big step forward, I don't see anything revolutionary. Of course all of the XGL eyecandy is nice (Mac had this stuff for a while though) but the new 'start menu'. IMHO it's taken directly from windows XP - you have favorite applications, control panel, etc :). Like I said it's a big step forward for a Linux Desktop, but those feature are something we're used to on Mac and Windows...
    • MarkByers, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8Windows doesn't have anything like XGL yet.
    • kamilmarkowicz, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2Vista Beta 2, anyone?
  • digitallysick, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4It would be so nice to come with xgl and compiz and not have to follow a 3 page document on installing it. Im tired of configing and reading forum after forum, ubuntu is great, but, somethings got to give with linux, its 100 times improved over the old days , but still needs to move to the future, Easier = more users
  • deadbaby, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5I'm really impressed at how good the desktop Linux distros are getting. I'm an Ubuntu user but I think SuSE has always done a better job fixing specific hardware issues. The Ubuntu devs tend to rely more on peer support to fix these issues via forums or IRC. I like that SuSE takes the time to ensure things work out of the box.

    Personally I'm sticking with Ubuntu because I'm a tweaker at heart but I think I would feel more comfortable setting up my parents or friends with SuSE. I'm really glad the desktop distros are starting to standardize on the same look & feel and the same apps. We're getting closer to a standard Linux desktop everyday.
    • mcbarron, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6"... I'm sticking with Ubuntu because I'm a tweaker at heart ..."

      You spelled "Gentoo" wrong ;)
  • ilitirit, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2If I were the author, I'd save my opinion on which distro was the most "polished" until after the Beta cycle.

    From the article:
    "More dubious, however, was its multimedia support. MP3s played fine in Banshee but double-clicking AVI or MPEG files yielded an annoying buzz and an error message from the Totem media player."

    Personally, I wouldn't even consider using an OS with dodgy multimedia support/performance.
    • ilitirit, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2that was meant to read "desktop OS". For some reason digg wouldn't let me edit my comment
  • jellygraph, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Whats with the Ubuntu hate? Ubuntu, while not my distro of choice (I use OpenSUSE 10.1/KDE and love it), is still a top class distro, easily one to compete in the top 3.
    • pabster, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I don't think it is hate, just people sick and tired of seeing nothing but Ubuntu stories hit the front page 24/7 on Digg.

      Next up, Ubuntu prepares breakfast! [/sarcasm]
    • Flooq, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Ubuntu is great but I think people are a little sick of seeing people talk up Ubuntu like it has something that other linux distros don't. It has it's advantages and the other top distros have theirs but underneath it all they're all running on linux kernels and they can all run the same apps and desktop enviroments.
  • modernpixel, on 10/12/2007, -4/+1Just finished watching their video presentations. While nicely polished, they owe their new GUI tricks to Mac OS X. Most of them are just blatantly ripped off from it, or very slightly modified. It annoys me when companies (including Apple) rip off other software designs and act like it's their own invention.

    In their videos, they talk about working really hard to find out what users want on a desktop interface. They found out cool things like - people want things to be labeled in a way that explains what they are. WOW, what a revelation. I know I was really annoyed that my control panels were labeled "Watermelons" and my hard drives were labeled "Poodles".

    There is no originality in this desktop interface design. It required no original research. To me, it seems that they just took Windows and Mac OS X and mashed them together. In and of itself, that doesn't bother me - why reinvent the wheel, right? But, they don't need to ***** about the thought put into it.

    Annoying.
    • ordminute, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4DirectFB and several other similar projects have been around for nearly 8 years, offering drop shadowing, real transparency and treating the desktop environment as a 3D scene long before OSX was released. Look at the development roadmap for Beagle, the 'instant searching tool'. It began long before Apple's spotlight - yet Apple claims to be the innovator here.

      Don't get sucked into Steve Job's reality distortion field. Most of the Apple innovations are in fact well tailored rip-offs. Apple's innovation is in their marketing if nothing else. I'm a very happy OSX-->Linux switcher, but I'm not afraid to say that Apple's implementation of other people's ideas is excellent.
    • phytonix, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1sadly even though they begin early, they can't make it a product fast enough. wait, it is actually TOO SLOW!
    • Quix, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1"It annoys me when companies (including Apple) rip off other software designs and act like it's their own invention."

      Ah, you're talking about Vista then...
    • thaeger, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Admittedly, after the videos were edited together, I failed to make my point about the labelling thing. The point was supposed to be that Windows has a "Start" button that you use to shut down the machine. So, "start" is a bad name. We also found that inexperienced computer users gravitate to the "My Computer" icon on the desktop for many tasks we asked them to do (even though the My Computer icon only opens a file browser. That's why we ended up naming the main button simply "Computer." We found that naming it after the thing that the user was using helped the user to adapt quickly. But the point got lost in the edits.
      --Ted "the guy in the video" Haeger
  • zalaz, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1Xandros Desktop OS, Version 4 is the ONLY game in town, IMHO. Amazing GUI that is available now. I have it running on an old Windows ME machine. Phenomenal. Worth the due dilligence: http://www.xandros.com/

    I say Xandros will eat Novell's lunch in the long run.

    Later,
    Peter
  • Quix, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6It would be a beautiful thing to see Novell rise from the ashes and take it to Microsoft with guns blazing.
  • UrsusMorologus, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1I switched to SUSE Professional with the 9.0 tree. Overall it's been rock solid, easy to work with, etc., with the fewest number of irritants and the most neato features (vi remembering where it was in a file, for example). Bash works great. I don't care for YAST but it's better than the no tools provided elsewhere.

    I tried the opensuse 10.x stuff and was pretty disappointed. It's slick but its very problematic with hardware. My dual-Xeon system, the hardware is not initialized correctly half the time, so the UPS doesn't show up half the time, the sensors aren't located half the time, etc. On my P4 there is a lot of weird lag in the system, like file copies don't start immediately, that kind of stuff. It has me looking for an alternative. I will try SUSE Pro 10 but if it has these same weirdo problem I will switch all my boxes.

    I've been trying other stuff and haven't found anything suitable yet. RHEL4 is rock solid for me but doesn't have XFS in the kernel and is missing lots of other stuff I need for business-class Linux. Fedora 5 is good but rough (yum doesn't work with Squid, wtf?). Ubuntu is okay for my dad, but I'm not a newbie and the mandatory sudo stuff just gets in my way usually. Gentoo is too bleeding edge--I don't want to compile, I want to d/l a patched and optimized package please. I've never been a fan of debian but I'm about to give it a shot too.

    If SUSE can make 10 work as smooth as 9.x it'll have a winner here. Doesn't look good so far, based on my experience with opensuse anyway.
  • uzusan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Anybody know if the customisation of openoffice that has been done in SLED 10 will be available across the board?

    In the video on the novells preview page (i recommened everyone watch it, its very good) they show off VBA support, with approx 95-98% of all macros in excel sheets running out of the box, no popups nothing. just load it and it works.

    I hope this is integrated into the next openoffice release, it would be am major step forward.
    • thaeger, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Uzusan:
      Michael Meeks leads up a team of OpenOffice.org contributors inside of Novell, and they're most likely making the most significant contributions to OOo outside of the core of maintainers at Sun. Their work is all contributed back to the OOo project, so I expect it will show up in other distros over time. Generally, SUSE Linux is the first place where these improvements show up first. Michael's leadership in the OOo community is huge, and since he works for Novell, SUSE Linux is where his team's contribs will show up first.
      --Ted
    • uzusan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2cheers for letting me know.

      once i actually thought about it, it was kind of obvious as open office is open source, and cant be distributed without the sourcecode being released back to the community.
  • cduquette, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I'm currently a Ubuntu user, coming from 4 years of Gentoo and I really enjoy OpenSuse. The only thing that bothers me is I can't get media support working for the life of me in that distro. Suse has always felt the most polished, yet not being able to play mp3s without serious research seems like a hole they need to fix. Don't forget their great artwork and interface design. Go Novell. Oh thanks for Xgl guys :D.
  • kierskoe, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0for the above, want media support in ubuntu?

    wget http://robotgeek.org/eu/easyubuntu-3.01.tar.gz
    tar -zxf easyubuntu-3.01.tar.gz
    cd easyubuntu
    sudo python easyubuntu.py

    All this distro bashing comes from *nix morons who think they are heroes because they run *nix. There are many flavours of Linux for many reasons..... choice and innovation etc. Each distro is favourable to different people for different reasons. Each has its good points and bad points depending on the user, hardware and use.

    Linux Distro's are not competing with microsoft, they are offering a free alternative.

    I use BSD, Red Hat and have tried most of the others... including linspire :P.... i pick the most suitable for my use.
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