Bend in the Weather

Wednesday, February 22. 2006

Next generation Linux Desktop

There has been a lot of debate whether Linux is ready to be a desktop replacement for Windows over the last 5 years.

Companies like Redhat (Redhat Desktop and Fedora Core), Novell (Novell Linux Desktop and OpenSuSE), and Canoncial (Ubuntu Linux) are doing a lot to make that a reality.

Novell is forging ahead with some major new components that will give Linux desktops the edge when it comes to eye-candy and stunning graphical displays. Novell is working on both Xgl and Compiz that will turn desktops upside turn (literally!)

Novell will ship the Xgl components in their upcoming OpenSuSE 10.1 release that is scheduled for March 2006. Other Linux distributions will follow shortly after.
This will beat Microsoft's next version of Windows - Vista to market and provide users and graphic artists with a modern and dynamic working environment.

A 3D desktop - as shown above is only one of the fancy features that Xgl will deliver. You can see a range of demos from the Xgl webpage at Novell. These include true transparency and shading, some interesting ways to manage multiple windows on your desktop and the like.

It's great to see Linux is not only bringing many of the graphical features people love but also pushing the boundaries with new and exciting ways to work.

The days of finding an excuse to remain on Windows is very quickly disappearing!

Posted by Matt in Apps, Linux, Play, Windows, Work at 11:51 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)