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Is Linux ready to challenge MS Vista?

Time: 15:48 EST/20:48 GMT | News Source: Computer Weekly | Posted By: Chris Hedlund

Another turbulent period of change is facing organisations over the next two years. Desktop roll-outs are one of the biggest and costliest headaches for any enterprise, and the prospect of another version of Windows is daunting.

At the Brainshare Novell user conference in Salt Lake City last month the company flagged the summer launch of version 10 of its SuSE Linux Enterprise operating system for servers and desktops. The company is positioning its Linux offering as a less complex alternative to the Vista release of Windows. Jack Messman, chief executive and president of Novell, said, "Microsoft's Vista is going to require a big migration and more end-user training, and it makes sense that corporations will look at desktop Linux as an alternative now."

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#1 By 32132 (142.32.208.232) at Wednesday, April 19, 2006 04:02:53 PM

No.

#2 By 2459 (24.175.137.39) at Wednesday, April 19, 2006 04:06:02 PM

"The company is positioning its Linux offering as a less complex alternative to the Vista release of Windows."

lol

#3 By 1401 (65.255.137.20) at Wednesday, April 19, 2006 04:29:07 PM

Windows came from the desktop world and is moving into the server world. Linux (Unix) came from the server world and is moving into the desktop world. The way I see it, Windows has made much more progress moving into servers than Linux has made into desktops.

And in two weeks I will be in St Louis for week long Linux training... (Is that how long it takes to learn Linux? A week?)

#4 By 37 (24.183.100.179) at Wednesday, April 19, 2006 04:45:31 PM

Vista > Linux Distros

#5 By 7754 (216.160.8.41) at Wednesday, April 19, 2006 04:56:36 PM

They better start doing some real work (darn it) on getting the Vista message out to the IT community and elsewhere. So far, everyone seems to think:

1) There isn't much new in Vista... eye-candy UI, who cares?
2) XP is already fine/good enough
3) If there is something new in Vista, Microsoft is back-porting it to XP anyways

Yet there is so much more out there... in fact, way too much! In a way, Apple is smart by introducing just a few changes every year or so--it's much more easily digestible and easy to market (but on the other hand, they have a fanatical base that will buy a new version if there were only one new feature). Every time I go to Channel9 or the blogs or elsewhere, I'm finding out something significant and new in Vista. It's huge.

Start spreading the freaking message, Microsoft. This is your game to lose.

#6 By 1401 (65.255.137.20) at Wednesday, April 19, 2006 07:09:04 PM

But the thing is #5 - there's really not that much to start spreading the message about. See the next news item on the main page...

#8 By 32132 (64.180.219.241) at Wednesday, April 19, 2006 10:09:11 PM

#7 PC sales up 13.1% last quarter. Apple Macintosh sales down 142,000 in same quarter (1,254,000 to 1,112,000)

Thats an 11% drop.

Anyone want to bet by January Apple will pre-install Vista?

#9 By 7754 (65.27.90.2) at Thursday, April 20, 2006 02:50:31 AM

#6: First off, if you really think there isn't much to talk about with Vista, I strongly suggest spending awhile over at Channel9. There is so much to go into, I wouldn't even know where to begin. Another mostly good (it screws up some of the details, particularly its emphasis on the kernel's role in Windows security issues--the kernel itself has little to do with the security problems Windows has faced) article is here: http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0%2C1697%2C1931946%2C00.asp. I'm not much of a gamer, but I know a lot of folks here are, so you should check out the section on DirectX 10 ("six to eight times better performance"). DX10 will likely be enough reason itself for many people to upgrade.

As for the "Where Vista Fails" article (and I will copy this post under that article's comments section)... honestly, I find myself paying less and less attention to Paul's take on things. Personally, I feel that he (along with much of the tech media) tends to review Windows almost strictly from a consumer mindset, and furthermore, always through the prism of OS X. He puts his focus on the built-in apps, and only covers the technology "guts" on a very superficial level. I think that is a mistake. The OS X model and ecosystem is wholly different than that of Windows. For example, the most popular mail app on Windows is Outlook--not anything built into Windows. It's not a moot point necessarily, but it is of questionable value to compare how the "Windows email client" compares to the one in OS X.

As I see it, the mistake Paul makes is a mistake of perspective, or rather, approach. Certainly, most business customers aren't approaching new versions of Windows comparing it OS X, but of an older version of Windows. Moreover, they aren't approaching it from the perspective of Windows alone, but a whole ecosystem made up of Windows, a host of applications, and a lot of years of user experience. Do they really care how it compares to OS X? Not in a practical sense; perphaps the enthusiast pays attention, but even then, for most it rarely weighs in on their decision.

Even on the consumer side, I think Paul makes a mistake in paying too much attention to built-in apps, and not enough on built-in platform technology. Microsoft has always rather conservatively chosen what it develops for built-in apps, mostly leaving it up to partners and other 3rd parties. I agree, Vista's DVD application is pointless (so far), but in two ways: it's pointless in that it's hopelessly hobbled, but also because no one probably cares--you'll get a better DVD application pre-installed with the PC, or it will come with the DVD burner, or whatever. That model is certainly something for debate, but debating the merits of the Vista DVD application itself is probably not that worthwhile. I realize it's an evaluation of Windows alone, but it's probably not worth getting too bent out of shape over what are probably irrelevant shortcomings in reality.

What is really disappointing, though, is that Paul rarely digs below the GUI and application level, and even if he does, it seems like lip service. For example, look at the threading model available in Windows vs. that of OS X--there is no comparison. OS X is seriously deficient in this area, and I've not once heard it mentioned in any tech media article. This will become more and more important and apparent as processor manufacturers turn to multicore designs to increase performance. Look at Group Policy... look at Remote Desktop (particularly the performance)... look at the .NET Framework... look at the very fine-grained file permissions... look at the true 64-bit support... look at the new networking stack... the list goes on and on.

#10 By 2960 (68.101.39.180) at Friday, April 21, 2006 11:25:45 AM

Nope.

TL

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