MESSAGE
| DATE | 2003-10-01 |
| FROM | From: "Inker, Evan"
|
| SUBJECT | Subject: [hangout] The Linux Cat in SuSE's Hat
|
The Linux Cat in SuSE's Hat
By Michael Y. Park
Enterprise Linux IT
September 30, 2003
http://www.enterprise-linux-it.com/perl/story/22396.html
German company SuSE Linux AG has announced an October 24th release date for
its next-generation operating system for home users, part of what some
analysts see as an "end run" strategy to create a loyal grassroots base.
SuSE is touting SuSE Linux 9.0 as the ideal bridge platform -- the operating
system that finally will convince reluctant Microsoft Windows users to cross
over to the open-source side of the software divide. SuSE plans for Linux
9.0 to be in place when computer users are ready for what the company
considers to be inevitable advancements, such as a 64-bit applications
environment. The OS includes a test version of Linux kernel 2.6.
"I think the key word here is migration," SuSE vice president of corporate
communications Joseph Eckert told NewsFactor. "This is the first desktop
system working on 64-bit Athlon, and the key there is that people can run
their 32-bit applications on 64 bits. It's a migration path to something we
feel everything is going to go to anyway -- whether it's Intel or Athlon,
64-bit is inevitable," he predicted.
"It's also got the NTFS file system, so that Windows users who want to
migrate to Linux -- but have a little hesitation -- can install this,"
Eckert pointed out, "and we'll partition the hard drive for them. And you
can access your documents and pictures or any files in the Windows partition
from the Linux partition." || ||
Exiting Through the Windows
Making the switchover from Windows to Linux even easier, Eckert said, is the
fact that SuSE Linux 9.0 will come with the KDE instant messenger Kopete,
which supports all common messenger services, and OpenOffice.org 1.1, which
can export PDF and Flash files and is designed around the standard XML file
format. It also has better support for WinModem and drivers for PDAs,
digital cameras and all USB-port devices, he noted.
Though SuSE Linux 9.0 runs on a Linux 2.4.21 kernel, the company added the
2.6 kernel as a hidden treasure for technically advanced users.
"We backported a lot of the functionality, and the power management -- which
used to be an issue -- is no longer an issue," Eckert said, "giving power
users the ability to play around with the 2.6 kernel. Again, the thought is
of migrating the current kernel this spring to the 2.6 kernel."
The Howard Dean of Open-Source?
Analysts see SuSE's desktop-oriented strategy as a way for the primarily
European company to get its foot in the door in a market crowded out by
heavyweights like Red Hat, which has flatly stated that its ambition is to
focus on the server level while remaining relatively mum about what place
Linux ought to have on the desktop.
"It sounds like an interesting bottom-up strategy," Gartner vice president
and server-group research director George Weiss told NewsFactor. "If you can
get organizations to deploy Linux on desktops enough to get familiar with
it, they come in via the grassroots and prove that Linux isn't as
intimidating as people thought.
"That gives SuSE an entry into organizations that may have had more
difficulty in just coming into Linux from the top on down," Weiss explained.
"They may feel that if they get into the desktops, they have some
opportunities to get around the 'monopoly' Red Hat has and do an end run to
capture more business from users."
'It Isn't You, It's MS. We're Just Not Compatible.'
Desktop-Linux expert Michael Silver is less sanguine about SuSE's gambit,
however.
"In the next few years, we believe Linux on the desktop will probably remain
in the low single digits for business use," Silver, vice president and
research director at Gartner, told NewsFactor. "It isn't that Linux can't do
what people need to do on the desktop," he pointed out. "But it's so
expensive to move everything people use on the typical desktop -- Windows --
that most enterprises won't be able to attempt it."
And all of SuSE Linux 9.0's vaunted bells and whistles will not be able to
overcome some fundamental issues that undoubtedly will crop up for Windows
users, he said.
"With a lot of Microsoft Office documents, you'll just have some fidelity
issues where it won't look to you like it did to the author," Silver
explained. "If a 10,000-user organization has 1,000 applications and a lot
of Windows applications, I won't be able to run a lot of those apps unless I
have Windows. And if I have Linux, I won't be able to run them at all.
"Certainly, Linux has been improving over time, and it works for some PCs --
but if I have many applications, migration is really too daunting."
The personal version of SuSE Linux 9.0 will retail for US$57; the
professional version for $105.
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