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Novell Also Ships SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10
Published: July 18, 2006
by Timothy Prickett Morgan
While Novell's launch of its SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 operating system is dominating the Linux headlines this week, the company has also delivered its SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 operating system for corporate and personal desktops.
Novell previewed SLED 10 back in March, and it is the kicker to the Novell Linux Desktop software that the company has been peddling for a few years. NLD was created to be a stable, inexpensive alternative to Windows XP for selected desktops for selected customers, such as call centers and banking terminals where the feature needs are a little less broad than with regular business desktops. But with OpenOffice 2.0 and compatibility features with Microsoft's Office suite, as well as the XgL 3D graphics extensions that Novell has woven in to compete against the 3D interface in the future Windows Vista kicker to Windows XP, SLED 10 is not looking to be an alternative to Windows in certain markets, but rather an alternative--plain and simple. The Visual Basic macro support that Novell has created for OpenOffice, which is necessary for more complete coverage of the Office stack, will go a long way toward making that happen.
A basic license for one year to SLED costs $50 per PC or laptop, and a three-year license costs $125 per machine. The subscription includes the same 90-day installation support as well as access to software updates and security patches for the term of the license contract.
SLED 10 does not have support for the integrated Xen hypervisor that SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 has; Xen support is due in Service Pack 1 later this year.
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