Novell Linux Desktop 10
There has been a lot of chatter across the net lately about Novell showing off its Novell Linux Desktop 10 which is due out later this year. After watching the videos and viewing the screenshots I must admit I have mixed emotions.
The screenshots are just mockups but after watcing the videos they seem to be very close to what Novell is working on. The primary thing that I don’t like is that it looks to be a very heavily modified version of GNOME. It by no means looks like the stock GNOME layout. This really annoys me! I have always hated distributions that heavily modify the desktop environment rather than shipping something closer to the default.
Lycoris, Linspire, Xandros, Ximian, even Sun’s JDS. Why? For one it creates inconsistencies between distributions, there is no confomity, which I feel only stands to hurt more than it helps. I especially hate it when the modifications are made to make Linux more like Windows. Most of the before mentioned (aside from Ximian) are all quilty of this to varying degrees.
If you look at the “mockups” and the videos you will see that they have implemented an XP-like start menu??? You have got to be kidding me! Why!!! Not only is it a crappy rip-off of an MS idea, most people I know hate the XP start menu.
Gone is the applications menu along the top of the screen and the taskbar on the bottom (though personally I always combine the two into one panel along the top of the screen). Instead you have a windows-esqe panel along the bottom, XP start menu and all..how original. The irony if it is that the demo was done by Nat Friedman, who I quoted several years ago about the dangers of making Linux look too much like Windows.
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