A First Look at Novell Linux Desktop 9

Early this week, Novell announced the availability of Novell Linux Desktop 9, a new $50 (per seat per year) desktop Linux distribution for the enterprise. We rushed to create a Novell profile account in order to download the 30-day evaluation edition. After all, Novell is the first well-known commercial entity undergoing a large-scale migration of its desktop computers to Linux. Also, this is the first release of what will eventually become Novell's main, fully supported Linux distribution, with SUSE LINUX reportedly being turned into a "community" project, à la Fedora Core. We were especially curious about one aspect of Novell Linux Desktop: what has been done to make the new operating system acceptable to thousands of Novell employees, most of whom are likely to be displeased with such a drastic change in their working routines?

Let's start with the installation. As expected, the system installer is YaST, somewhat automated, re-branded, and with a nice neutral-looking theme. GNOME 2.6 and KDE 3.2.1 are the only two desktop environments available and users need to make an explicit decision to install either of them, or alternatively, select both in the detailed package selection dialog. GNOME seems to be Novell's preferred desktop with more obvious customizations - icons for the Firefox browser, Novell Evolution collaboration client (the word "Ximian" has been dropped from the application), and OpenOffice.org Writer prominently displayed on the task bar. If software updates are available, a Red Carpet icon will also be around to alert the user to the fact. On the other hand, KDE has more or less the default SUSE look with Konqueror and Kontact as the preferred web browsing and mail/organizer clients.

Much thought was given to the selection of applications and their names in menus. As has been the trend with other user-friendly desktop distributions, most software packages were renamed to give a clear indication of their purpose. Names such as Gaim or K3B were replaced with "Instant Messenger" and "CD Burner". This brings up an interesting point regarding preferred applications - although K3B is a KDE application, it is the default CD burner on the GNOME desktop. This example indicates that Novell developers chose what they believed was the best application for each task, irrespective of the application's affinity in terms of development toolkits and class libraries. Overall, the Novell GNOME desktop is very nicely designed, somewhat reminiscent of that found in any recent Fedora Core release, and the users' first impressions, after booting into their new operating system for the first time, are likely to be positive.

Although Novell Linux is based on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9, many of the more visible applications were updated to later versions. This includes not only the above-mentioned GNOME desktop, but also OpenOffice.org (1.1.3), Evolution (2.0.1) and Firefox (0.10.0). The kernel is at version 2.6.5 and the X window system is the last pre-release of XFree86 4.4.0 before that project's infamous license change. A number of Novell-specific applications and compatibility layers with other Novell products were also included - among them iFolder, Red Carpet, Novell ZENworks and Connector for Microsoft Exchange Server deserve a special mention.

• iFolder is a file synchronization service. All documents in the Documents/iFolder folder are regularly synchronized and backed up with an iFolder back-end server and can be retrieved from any computer with an iFolder client (they are available for both Windows and Linux), or through a web browser.
  
  
• Red Carpet is a software management solution originally developed by Ximian. It offers software installation and removal, automated security updates, system-wide upgrades, searches, patches and history logs. Red Carpet effectively replaces YaST as the preferred software management tool on Novell Linux Desktop.
  
  
• Novell ZENworks (not part of Novell Linux Desktop) is a system administration tool that offers centralized control over software configurations on Linux servers, workstations, laptops, and even handheld devices.
  
  
• Connector for Microsoft Exchange Server was also originally developed by Ximian. It is a freely available GPL-ed product which turns the Evolution collaboration suite into an Microsoft Exchange client.

Also worth mentioning are the included system administration utilities. They consist of two independent modules - the system-wide YaST (called "Administrator Settings"), which requires root privileges, and a user-only control center (called "Personal Settings"), which is a collection of shortcuts to launch personal, appearance, hardware and system preferences dialogs. As for included software, all popular desktop applications are available - The GIMP and Sodipodi for graphics manipulation and vector drawing, Gaim, XChat and GnomeMeeting for instant messaging, IRC and video conferencing, Rhythmbox, Totem and RealPlayer 10 for playing multimedia files, as well as the usual array of system utilities. All these, together with the three back-bone applications (OpenOffice.org, Evolution and Firefox) provide an efficient working environment for most users.

We liked the new Novell Linux Desktop 9. It is a meticulously designed application suite, especially the GNOME desktop, with many user-friendly enhancements and a careful selection of applications. Its integration with some business-oriented solutions, such as iFolder and Connector provide added functionality that will appeal to enterprises. There is also a lot of developer enthusiasm behind the product - see this blog by Luis Villa, or the Novell Linux Desktop Cool Solutions page with an incredible amount of articles, tips and tricks, application notes, FAQs, links to user forums, and other useful information. The source code is also available. The price is reasonable and additional support options can be purchased through Novell for that extra peace of mind. All in all, a very good product indeed.

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