April 21st, 2006 by Jeff Jaffe
The e-Security deal is an important step forward for Novell in building out a comprehensive story around identity management and compliance. I’ll be looking at e-Security in more detail in some upcoming posts. I’ve got a few closing thoughts on the Linux desktop I’ll be sharing shortly. Thanks for keeping those comments coming.
April 17th, 2006 by Jeff Jaffe
Two weeks ago, in my first posting, I recounted various aspects of the Linux desktop. To review: it has previously not had sufficient features or applications for widespread usage. But, with Novell Linux Desktop 9, we had an example of a desktop that was good enough for many applications. And we have been seeing a rapid rate of innovation for the Linux desktop. I claimed that with SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10, it is ready for prime time.
I appreciate the diversity of postings that many of you sent, both supportive and “constructive.” For those that are skeptical, I really understand your skepticism – after all of these years of lack of choice. I do encourage you to try SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 and see for yourself. And in this post, I describe why I believe that SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 is the right answer. First, the five high level reasons, and then we’ll take a tour of the desktop in detail.
Aside from these three reasons that I will describe in detail, there are also:
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10: Tour in detail. #1 Good enough.
Not every cool aspect of SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 represents a new standard of excellence. In some cases, the focus is simply on getting a system which is good enough for the vast majority of users. Here are some examples.
Device drivers. There are armies of Open Source projects that are providing device drivers for the vast majority of popular devices.
Plug and play. This was a major deficiency in previous Linux desktops. Due to the support of key device drivers, Linux is pulling to parity here.
Banshee Music Player. Via a partnership with Real Networks, excellent MP3 support. This may be principally for consumers, but has a role in corporations (e.g. training) as well.
Better Suspend Modes. This is always an important capability for corporate users.
Linux Enterprise Desktop 10: Tour in detail. #2 Innovation.
My post on April 3rd argued that the current desktop innovations arriving through openSuse represent true innovation. Here are a few of the proof points.
Beagle. The amount of data people have on their computers today is growing at an ever-increasing rate. Emails, documents, web pages, photos. People still find it awkward to find things on their desktop. Beagle is a comprehensive search tool that allows users to search throughout their computer for phrases: in documents, emails, images, contact lists, appointments, etc.
Control center / application browser. Gone are menu lists as an inconvenient method to find your application. Menu lists were fine when there were few applications, but today there are simply too many. The Application browser allows you to use search to find your applications.
Policy-driven network manager. Today’s mobile professional finds herself in new locations with competing types of networks, and multiple overlapping WiFi networks available. SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 allows the user to set policies to choose which network to use.
XGL graphics subsystem. David Reveman’s XGL backend to the X server enables 3-D-accelerated drawing of the desktop, opening the door not only to better performance for intrawindow rendering, but also to a variety of special effects, animations, and new user interface paradigms. By supporting the XGL standard, there is faster rendering of 3-D graphics and video on existing hardware.
Window manipulation. By leveraging the powerful XGL capabilities, windows can shrink and grow, tile themselves on the desktop, become semitransparent. Multiple virtual deskstops can be placed on the different faces of a cube. When you want to work with one or the other, you simply spin the cube. Why is all this important? Because it makes the desktop fun to use. And as Don Norman explains in his book Emotional Design, a product that is a pleasure to use is easier to learn.
As users learn to harness these capabilities it will be the most significant change in how people interact with their desktop since windows were first introduced.
F-Spot Photo Manager. SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 leverages high speed graphics into graphical based applications. The F-Spot Photo Manager is a well integrated, easy-to-use manager of one’s photographs. The speed of image switching is outstanding, allowing one the manage large libraries of photos better than before.
Speed in general. By leveraging the latest hardware, and with careful design, most tasks operate with impressive speed. We have facilities for quality of service; improved disk scheduling. In performance, of most immediate notice to end-users is:
Power savings. For our increasingly mobile knowledge workers, an important feature.
Fast boot. To remove a source of constant frustration.
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10: Tour in detail. #3 Integration.
Although the “innovations” are what grabs attention, equally important in the long term is the care placed on good design and integration. This involves both a well integrated desktop system, as well as one that integrates well with today’s Corporate I/T infrastructure.
This is particularly important for products based on Open Source. There is a big difference between creating the point technologies and creating the ensemble known as a superior desktop product. We feel that this is a significant role that a large company can play. Here are some of the key proof points.
Central management and deployment. Between the local desktop configuration tool (YaST) and ZENworks Linux Management 7, adminstrators can set up, configure, manage, and support large desktop deployments in enterprise settings.
Interoperability with Microsoft Active Directory. Recognizing the important role that Active Directory already plays in Corporate I/T.
A shared code base with the SUSE Linux Enterprise Server. This allows smooth interworking between clients and servers.
Testing. A considerable amount of testing has gone into the various pieces – making sure they all work together.
Up the stack. Extensive modifications were inserted to integrate well with Open Office. This includes file format interoperability, Visual Basic macro support, and performance improvements.
Further up the stack. The distribution includes development tools, middleware and applications. See www.novell.com to get a complete list.
Usability lab. There are thousands of hours of user tests to ensure that every aspect of the desktop is comfortable for the user.
Project Utopia. Project Utopia is an Open Source project which focuses on Use Cases as a way to make sure that Plug and Play is well integrated into the Linux desktop.
Banshee Music Play, Control Center (again). Above, I described some of the innovations (e.g. MP3 in Banshee, search for Control Center). That is only half the story. The other half is the way that each component is highly usable. For example, Banshee makes it extremely easy to manage one’s playlists and manipulate all of their MP3s. Control Center, aside from supporting search, also provides convenient display of key applications and makes it easy to organize all applications.
Apologize for the long rant about the features of SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10. But there is a lot there! It takes huge effort to be relevant on the desktop. In my next major posting, I will explore my views on the implications of SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop for I/T.
April 12th, 2006 by Jeff Jaffe
I wanted to weigh in on a couple of issues raised in recent comments. A number of comments appear to be coming from people who are on previous versions, so I’d encourage you do to try the beta of SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10. There have been a lot of improvements. Get into our beta program and give us your feedback. I’ll be going into more technical details on the desktop in an upcoming post.
On usability, the key isn’t adding more icons to the screen (bloatware!) but choosing wisely what is needed for desktop users. We’ve been careful in SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 with the number of icons on the screen and the text that accompanies the icons. The icon descriptions are more intuitive. So I think we’re ahead of the curve there.
Click’n'run software installation is a good thing to do, and we’ve done a lot to address this in SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10. Obviously, there’s an important distinction between enterprise users and home users in this respect. Software distribution and deployment to business desktops demands centralized management, which we deliver with ZENworks. For the average home user, which, as we’ve made clear, is not our target market with SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop, there will be a need for updates, and that will be possible via a portal. Over time, we need to make this even better.
On device drivers, these are generally not controlled by Novell. But we are working hard to ensure that the GPL-focus on the Linux kernel is respected while enabling the largest amount of chipsets and architectures.
On channel partners, we have a literally thousands of channel partners who are delivering Novell solutions. We believe the Linux desktop will provide these partners an opportunity for new conversations with their customers about their infrastructure needs. You can find Novell partners from our PartnerNet page.
April 7th, 2006 by Jeff Jaffe
Thanks for the comments, pro and con. As you can imagine, I won’t have the bandwidth to reply to all comments, but I want you to know I am reading them, and I suspect others at Novell are, as well, so keep your opinions coming. Needless to say, for those expressing some skepticism about the desktop, the burden is on us to prove the value. I think we can, and I’ll explore why in some upcoming posts. Ditto with the concern expressed in one post about our wasting money. We have to prove the business value of our approach with our results. But I’d put the open source model up against any other R&D model in terms of the value you get for what you put in. Finally, on questions of specific Novell product futures, I won’t be pronouncing on the blog, for all the usual reasons. But, again, your opionions are being registered.
If you haven’t checked out our new Novell Open Audio podcast page, I suggest you do so. I did one of these right before BrainShare. The MP3 is here. The Ogg file (open source format) is here.
April 3rd, 2006 by Jeff Jaffe
A Personal Odyssey
Transitions
As the new CTO of a company that is all about openness, I feel it is important to have a dialog with customers and with the industry. I’m launching this CTO blog through the lens of my very personal views and experiences with the Linux desktop. It is a long, complex topic, so I will lay out my thoughts with a few posts over the next few weeks. Each post is also on the lengthy side. I apologize, but I want to get my thoughts out – and get your reaction. Looking forward to the dialog.
Moving from one company to another has its share of excitement and apprehensions. The excitement deals with the opportunities. New responsibilities. New focus. The positive aspects of change. The apprehensions have a great deal to do with one’s I/T environment. Today’s workers live with, and in many cases completely depend on, their machine and their I/T environment. Transitioning email, personal files, and bookmarks are nuisances that we live with.
For several years, I have been a satisfied customer of the Windows desktop. My history of being a stalwart user of the OS/2 desktop is long gone. The early Windows deployments, with the klunky plug and play, are also a thing of the past. True, Windows is far from perfect. It is not comfortable to “ctrl-alt-del” every time my printer driver gets confused and hangs the system. And viruses are a huge pain. Despite these and many other flaws, Windows is workable. So, leaving this behind became a source of apprehension as I recently moved to Novell.
© 2009 Novell, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
