MESSAGE
| DATE | 2004-03-24 |
| FROM | From: "Inker, Evan"
|
| SUBJECT | Subject: [hangout] Novell to Combine Best of KDE and Gnome
|
Novell to Combine Best of KDE and Gnome
By Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols
March 23, 2004
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1553087,00.asp
SALT LAKE CITY-Novell's Linux-oriented divisions, Ximian and SuSE, will work
together to make one common Novell Linux desktop from Gnome's and KDE's best
features, Novell Inc. CEO Jack Messman revealed in an eWEEK.com interview at
the company's annual BrainShare trade show here.
Ximian has been the main power behind Gnome, while SUSE has been KDE's chief
backer. Supporters of the two interfaces have often sparred with each other
in flame wars on Slashdot, mailing lists and newsgroups.
KDE supporters insisted that Bruce Perens, an open-source leader and founder
of the UserLinux initiative, include KDE as well as his choice of Gnome for
the initiative's desktop interface. Reasoning that the business community
would want a single desktop choice, Perens eventually decided to incorporate
KDE as well.
Messman said, "Our customers are creating the demand for a Linux desktop,
and they're telling us they want one interface. So, we're going to migrate
to a single Linux desktop."
Working together, SUSE and Ximian have the programming muscle to accomplish
the task, Messman said.
But the move is not an attempt to merge the two interfaces, said Chris
Schlager, vice president of research and development for SUSE.
"Technically, you can't combine them, but we are working toward having the
best features of both in a single interface. We'll implement all the best
features in one technology."
Schlager added that he thinks the conflict between KDE and Gnome developers
has been overstated. "The developers really don't fight; it's their
supporters who fight, he said.
"You won't see a lot of that SuSE Linux Desktop 9.1 or SuSE Linux Enterprise
Server (SLES) 9.0. It's not clear what the name will be, but you'll see the
first major results of this effort in the next versions of SUSE Linux, which
will be released toward the end of the year."
In the meantime, "the work has already started," Schlager said, with the
Ximian Desktop 2.0 being merged into the SuSE Linux Desktop 9.1. As for
potential conflicts, he said simply, "I don't think turf wars will happen
here."
While the company will continue to put out the SUSE Linux desktop, it sees
the biggest growth in the near future happening with thin client hardware
and software, Messman said.
"This will lower the cost of Linux desktop," he said, adding that the "cost
savings will be the significant driver. This won't happen overnight. When
corporations need to renew their software licenses or upgrade their hardware
for a new update, these customers will see Linux as an option."
The approach, Messman said, is "not that much different from Sun's approach
with Java Desktop System and Sun Ray." But Novell, he noted, has its own
Linux and can offer a complete Linux stack from the enterprise server to the
desktop.
"When you have tight integration between desktop and server, you have a very
powerful solution," he said.
He said he thinks the ability to offer customers a complete, soup-to-nuts
solution will be a valuable addition. "We've learned our lesson from
Microsoft."
SLES already has thin-client support, a feature Schlager said has often been
overlooked. Now, Novell is playing up such features.
At BrainShare, IBM is already demoing Linux Retail Solution, a thin client
for point of sale (POS) devices based on SLES 8.0.
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