Next version of SUSE coming soon

http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/21...x-gets-graphic

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The latest version of SuSE Linux will include a series of graphic features built into the client version which have only been seen in high-end workstations.

Users can now adapt their graphical user interface to display multiple windows within a virtual cube onscreen.

This is not just for static pages, as moving images can be displayed either full screen or wrapped around the edge of the viewing cube (click here for an illustration).

In addition the Alt-Tab function on Windows machines has been improved with the creation of a thumbnail preview function, which allows users to cycle between applications and see a real-time snapshot of each page.

"The new features take advantage of the 3D graphics capabilities of modern computers," said Nat Freidman, vice president of Linux desktops at Novell.

"Things like thumbnail images make the user work better and make it easier to see what's going on in the system. The whole thing is based on user feedback."

One example of this is the way that an open window is minimised. Rather than having it disappear, the window visibly minimises down to the desktop toolbar. Feedback suggested that this makes it easier for people to find information they have been working on.

The new desktop also has a system search function which can find recent documents, data, web pages and even relevant IM conversations. Sensitive information can be blocked.

The server version has a number of innovations that Novell feels will make it highly attractive, including virtualisation. The company said that its operating system will be the first open source code to support both Intel and AMD virtualisation te chnology.

Application security will also be built in as standard, using the AppArmor application, which Novell claims is a first for any operating system.

The new operating system will be released in the summer and, although pricing has yet to be announced, it is likely to undercut Microsoft significantly.

Novell is betting that companies faced with switching from Windows XP to Vista will be tempted to try an open source alternative.

"We know what our competitor is like; Microsoft builds code for the computer of tomorrow," said Greg Mancusi-Ungaro, marketing director for Linux at Novell.

"We say you can have the same features, even better ones, and run it on the systems you bought this year, last year and the year before."

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Don't know about you but this looks pretty good.

Howdy.

Well by the sounds of things it should look good, i wonder how those on low end machines will go with all these new features been added into the next installment..

Other then that carn't wait.

cheers
front2back

Hey Hey,

Well gore... You know I'm a huge SuSE fan... but I have to rip a hole in this marketing tripe.

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The latest version of SuSE Linux will include a series of graphic features built into the client version which have only been seen in high-end workstations.

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Have only been seen in high-end workstations? This makes no sense has graphic features depend on the OS, not the power of the workstation. XP, Linux, OS X... they're all on par right now... Xgl is cool, there's no doubt but it's nothing extraordinarily new..

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Users can now adapt their graphical user interface to display multiple windows within a virtual cube onscreen.

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So their working Xgl into the operating system... I think it's important to remember that the *nix DVDs are everything.. that's why it comes on DVD or multiple CDs... Xgl is not a core of the "OS"... it's a portion of the software package... and in that case - http://www.infinite-3d.com/cube.html which uses OpenGL to accomplish something very similar on Windows and has been arond longer.

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This is not just for static pages, as moving images can be displayed either full screen or wrapped around the edge of the viewing cube (click here for an illustration).

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Again... this is just putting the 3D desktop to work...

[quote]
In addition the Alt-Tab function on Windows machines has been improved with the creation of a thumbnail preview function, which allows users to cycle between applications and see a real-time snapshot of each page.
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http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/d...powertoys.mspx - XP Power Toys contains Alt-Tab Replacement (and has for some time now... long before Novell even considered it) and it performs the window preview.

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"The new features take advantage of the 3D graphics capabilities of modern computers," said Nat Freidman, vice president of Linux desktops at Novell.

"Things like thumbnail images make the user work better and make it easier to see what's going on in the system. The whole thing is based on user feedback."

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There's nothing new here but marking tripe.. Plenty of things these day take advantage of the capbilities of modern video cards and computers... such as Cube which I listed above.

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One example of this is the way that an open window is minimised. Rather than having it disappear, the window visibly minimises down to the desktop toolbar. Feedback suggested that this makes it easier for people to find information they have been working on.

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This sounds interesting.. but I think it would irritate me.. I find that the text of the Window takes up too much space as it is.. having a thumbnail of the Window would be even worse.. especially when you open a lot of programs.. To attract the "I'm cool, look at me" computer user... this could work.. but for the person who has to work with PCs day in and day out... this isn't going to be an attractive option.

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The new desktop also has a system search function which can find recent documents, data, web pages and even relevant IM conversations. Sensitive information can be blocked.

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More addon software... most likely Beagle. In which case it's no different than Google Desktop, MSN Desktop, Yahoo Desktop or whoever else is providing search functionality.

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The server version has a number of innovations that Novell feels will make it highly attractive, including virtualisation. The company said that its operating system will be the first open source code to support both Intel and AMD virtualisation te chnology.

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This makes the server interesting at least... However given how bloated SuSE tends to be compared to other distributions and the work involved in streamlining it... I'm not sure if it's worth the trade off, especially when VMWare Server is now free. Especially since at this point it's new technology and I'm sure still bugging

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Application security will also be built in as standard, using the AppArmor application, which Novell claims is a first for any operating system.

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AppArmor is again something that sounds cool... but I'm sure it will have it's bugs... Also.. it basically sounds like it sets programs up to execute in chrooted jails. Nothing new there.. they've just created a front-end for it... And some of it's features leave me wondering.. It will "automatically" determine listening/open ports and what application is using them... but it does so by running netstat... What if the malicious software is hiding itself from netstat (as it most likely is)... Also how resource intensive is this on your server.... Is it worth running when you could instead just lock the machine down and perform proper audits? However I do definately want to play with this a bit to experiment and test it.

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The new operating system will be released in the summer and, although pricing has yet to be announced, it is likely to undercut Microsoft significantly.

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This shouldn't be difficult and it'll definately be interesting to see.. Especially the desktop, if it's half as impressive as the marketing hype behind it.. it could be interesting to see if it helps Novell gain any ground.

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Novell is betting that companies faced with switching from Windows XP to Vista will be tempted to try an open source alternative.

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Maybe in 3 or 4 years.... How many shops are still running 2k... If Vista keeps getting pushed back it could be another year before we see it... By that time this SuSE release will be old news.. Also Enterprises like Active Directory... they like how easy it is.. they like the Regular patch schedule.. there are lots of reasons for enterprises to stay with MS and many more to stay away from Open Source (never thought I'd say that since I'm an open source advocate most of the time). Linux, at this time, is just not a viable alternative... regardless of the progress with OpenExchange, with the desktop and server environment and with the ability to run Samba4 as an AD server. It can happen.. but if it is.. it's still a long time away... and when it gets to be time to upgrade.. Microsoft makes it very cheap. When I was looking into SuSE 9 for the IT programs at the college I was at... they quoted me 75 cents per copy (Canadian) I was impressed... very impressed.. untill I found out that was roughly 3 times what we paid Microsoft per license.

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"We know what our competitor is like; Microsoft builds code for the computer of tomorrow," said Greg Mancusi-Ungaro, marketing director for Linux at Novell.

"We say you can have the same features, even better ones, and run it on the systems you bought this year, last year and the year before."

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I love how this contradicts their earlier statements that they're taking full advantage of modern computers.. well a modern computer is running a 256 or 512MB Video card.. last year was 128MB and the year before that.. 64 and 128MB... I'd like to see them offer the exact same performance across 64, 128, 256 and 512MB video cards. Software drives hardware and the hardware manufacturers aren't going to look to kindly on comments like that.. it's give and take.. Your software pushes them to buy this hardware... we brand our hardware and make sure it works with your software... and I'm sorry but Xgl is definately not the least resource intensive program in the world..

It's great that the new version is coming out, and don't get me wrong I'll definately be taking it for a test drive... but this article is nothing but marketing..

Peace,
HT

HT:

Most of this you could easily shut off when it annoyed you. As for streamlining, out of the box SUSE whips RedHat's ass, and that doesn't come from Novell but people who've tested redhat and SUSE on the same boxes side by side. No I don't have a link to it because it wasn't published anywhere except a list I'm on where someone sent us all a post syaing they tested two exact copy of each other boxes and then put RedHat Enterprise on one and SUSE on the other, SUSE was almost twice as fast without tweaking anything.

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Originally posted here by gore
HT:

Most of this you could easily shut off when it annoyed you. As for streamlining, out of the box SUSE whips RedHat's ass, and that doesn't come from Novell but people who've tested redhat and SUSE on the same boxes side by side. No I don't have a link to it because it wasn't published anywhere except a list I'm on where someone sent us all a post syaing they tested two exact copy of each other boxes and then put RedHat Enterprise on one and SUSE on the other, SUSE was almost twice as fast without tweaking anything.

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RedHat is at the point where I'm not even sure if I consider it to really be Linux... it's a horrid piece of bloatware.... As far as Enterprise Linux Servers... SuSE's got the best one that I can think of... but Enterprise Linux Server is almost an oxymoron... As a server though... SuSE can't stand up to Debian or Slackware.

Anyways.. I'm going to bed... it's 4:30... We've got a gas leak... The gas company just left.. they refused to check where the leak is obviously originating (because we don't have an appliance there... just the gas pipe running behind the wall.. but it couldn't possibly be leaking so no need to check).. and they still claim we have no problems.. and I've gotta work in a couple hours... and I'm generally pissed off... and emailed my landlord to let them know.. so yeah

Peace,
HT

I woke up to "Allen your Uncle got in a bad car accident and he's in the ER"...

As for Debian.... I've used it, it's nice, but it can be a pain. As for Slackware, SUSE started as a Slackware company before taking Slackware, changing it around, redoing a lot of it, doing code audits, adding more tools, and making their own distro from it. Most people don't seem to know that, I'm pretty sure you do though.

Sure it's a marketing tool. Novell is a HUGE business. I hope they release it into open suse.