The Second Annual Linux Desktop Summit  

Linspire (Lindows) is slick! If you didn’t know better, you would think this O/S and its support owns the world. The applications are all there. Games, Music, Photography, Mail, Internet Browser… There are even some decent business applications. 

If you have signed up for Lindows’ CNR service you have a library of thousands of applications to choose from. Just click-and–run, and that’s it, the download and install, and run are automatic. Nothing comes up on the screen asking a myriad of questions you wouldn’t know the answers to anyway. Also you sign the licensing statement once when you sign up, there is no annoying box you have to check asking if agree with something you will never read. Very nice! 

Most of the software is Open-Source. Lindows has put a few finishing touches on some applications. Also Lindows has tried to solve some of the vexing file sharing problems. Many common file extensions are supported. So if your kid needs to take stuff to school (see below), most if not all will open on a Microsoft box. Some software is enhanced with licensed material (like the fonts for Open-Office). Lindows has them all in their library for easy downloading (and it automatically debits your credit card if you have signed up for the service). 

The price for all this service is excellent. Everything is either free with your subscription or inexpensive. 

So what’s missing? If you are married to applications that are ported to Microsoft Windows, you are out of luck (Some folks like Quick Books, and Adobe Illustrator). 

You may have to look for a while to find someone who will sell you a machine that is running Linspire when you buy it. This is especially true if you want a Laptop. In fact if you want a Laptop it is almost essential you get it with Linspire installed (unless you want to write your own hardware drivers). Lindows says it is signing up OEMs all over the world (perhaps a vacation in Mexico would be nice). I saw their guys running Linspire on Laptops so you might ask Lindows what to buy before you jump. 

Novell talked a great deal about their future offerings. It would seem their biggest customer, thus far, is themselves. They have have cancelled their Microsoft contract and by the end of the year they will be up on Linux.  The first migration will be to Open-Office, with the augmentation of Agfa licensed fonts. The next phase will see all but a few machines loaded with their Linux distribution.  

The Novell offering is aimed at commercial clients. It integrates The Ximian offering with those of Novell to make a very nice package. Again like Lindows if you have Microsoft app’s you need second party solutions. 

One Novell customer the city of Largo, Florida has an interesting solution, Thin Clients to HP servers running Linux (and presumably Windows).  For the Thin Clients they buy cheap surplus terminals off Ebay, allegedly for $5 each!!! It would seem they have a technical success. However if a larger city tried to emulate their plan they might exhaust the Ebay supply chain. 

The most interesting presentation was by SUN. Their Java Desktop was functional. They also provide a font upgraded Open-Office. They appear to be a legitimate contender in the battle for the one percent market share Linux has on the desktop! 

SUN did demonstrate something very exciting, the work of one of their engineers. ‘Looking Glass’. Looking Glass is new way to see GUI objects. Any window can be made semi-transparent, rotated, whatever. Folders can even be turned on end and put on a shelf (conveniently marked on the edge like a book). We saw some very nice demonstrations. However no one from SUN would commit to Looking Glass as a future product. 

Desktop Linux is ready! Most of the technical issues have been addressed, if not solved (for example all three of the major players use different file formats, and all three players have different fonts for Open-Office). The distributions are complete, and come up running. The support from Lindows seems to be excellent. So what’s missing? Customers. Currently worldwide use of Linux on the desktop is one percent! Not a compelling number if you are a Software Vendor. Compatibility issues are a plague. In the United States most folks already own a computer, and legacy software. When the choice to buy a new machine comes along, Linux looks like a downscale choice. Not a nice position, in an established up scale market. 

Is there a market for Desktop Linux? Sure but not in traditional markets with traditional thinking. 

In the Corporate environment, workers need a computer for limited use. Compatibility issues are largely internalized. Desktop Linux is a very economical solution. This is especially true if your company has no computer infrastructure already. If you need a computer for your home, a Linux Desktop is again a very economical and excellent solution. This is especially true if it is your first computer, or you do not have kids that need to transport their work to school. 

So where is this mythical LinuxDesktopLand, not here, in the third world! Only 1/10 of the world’s population now have personal computers (or running water for that matter). They do not have the installed base, the legacy issues, the file format issues; however they do have cost issues.  Lindows, after several false starts is now looking at these emerging target markets. We may see the mass introduction of Linux Desktops, in India, Mexico, or China. And perhaps then, the technology may migrate back to the USA. 

30: Richard Gray, 25April2004