Xandros Desktop OS

Xandros has announced the availability of "Xandros Desktop OS". Although this is the first release for Xandros, this distribution has a long history.

Xandros acquired the Corel Linux Business Division's software development team in 2001. Corel Linux, many will remember, was Debian 2.2 (potato) based. The distribution relied heavily on Wine to run Microsoft applications, including other Corel software products. ZDNet wrote about the launch of Corel Linux in November 1999: "Corel Linux is file-compatible with Windows. With its graphical file manager, users can wander a Windows 9x like file manager that enables users to access floppy drives, CD-ROMs, Simple Message Block (SMB), Network File System (NFS), file transfer protocol (ftp) sites and normal local Unix file systems as easily as Windows users can wander about their network neighborhood. In particular, new Linux users will never need to know the pain of having to mount floppy and CD-ROMs before using them."

It wasn't long, however, before Corel realized that making a Linux distribution wasn't all that profitable. Over the next couple of years the distribution languished. Regular updates and prompt security patches went from rare to none at all. By 2001 Linux advocate and Corel CEO Michael Copeland was out, along with the entire Linux division.

For nearly a year Xandros has been updating and improving Corel's distribution, to create a Linux desktop to tempt the diehard Windows user. A partnership with CodeWeavers created "CrossOver for Xandros", to run Microsoft applications on this Desktop OS. CodeWeavers CrossOver technology is not open-source. It does utilize Wine, and while CodeWeavers is a stanch supporter of the Wine Project, free software purists will find this a major drawback to Xandros.

eWeek notes that LindowsOS also uses CrossOver technology, but says the Xandros version is better. "While this is not the first time Windows compatibility technologies from CodeWeavers have found their way into Linux -- they were included last year in the Lindows operating system from Lindows.com Inc. [CodeWeavers CEO Jeremy] White said the CrossOver technologies integrated in Xandros Linux are more advanced and robust and work better than those built for Lindows.com."

Xandros plans to release a server version. Says Xandros VP for software development Ming Poon in this Consulting Times interview, "We will do a server version, and we will develop enterprise management tools to help large corporations to deploy the desktop installation."

Will Xandros live up to all the hype? Can it compete with big names like Red Hat, SuSE and Mandrake, or even with small names like Lycoris? Time will tell.

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