ResearchNovell Incorporated's SuSE Linux
Novell has had a long history in information technology that makes it a familiar household name. Starting with their NetWare network system application in 1983, they went on to acquire Unix System Laboratories in 1993, and WordPerfect and Quattro Pro in 1994. These days, Novell has now addressed the needs of both the home and business user with a new twist on an old Unix theme: the SuSE Linux operating system.
SuSE Linux was always one of the enterprise breeds of Linux. Based originally on Slackware, the system has enjoyed a highly popular following, jointly providing a supported business platform in their main system and a free version, OpenSuSE, keeping roots in the open-source software community. Novell bought SuSE in 2003, and since then the Linux distribution has done for Novell what open-source software has done for many aging IT companies; it has helped them stay current and competitive in the market when they were in danger of slowing down.
The company's new motto is "Your Linux is ready!", indicating that through it's enterprise level of support and professional attention to a secure and robust framework, the Linux distribution will be a solution that the business world can count on without the concerns usually associated with the 'home-brew' nature of Linux. Novell's new message about SuSE promotes the operating system's ability to run on everything from the desktop to the data-center, as well as stressing the role the open source community plays in contributing to the software. Given that the SuSE distribution has prospered on it's own since 1992 when it started as a German translation of Slackware, Novell need mostly only stand back and watch it run to see it succeed. They bring their heavy strength to the table, however, in the form of over twenty years experience in technology and their financial backing to the project.
SuSE Linux comes with YaST, a set-up tool that installs the system and can be used as a one-stop configuration tool, as well as to automatically download and install new packages as needed. It has NTFS support, which allows it to co-exist side-by-side with a Windows install on the same machine. And it comes with all the standard programs familiar to Linux users, including KDE, Gnome, and other desktops, mutimedia software in K3B (a CD and DVD burner), Amarok music player, and Kaffeine movie player. Being a commercial release, it also comes with some proprietary components like Adobe Flash out-of-the-box.
Novell executives have admitted that Linux's battle for a share of the desktop market in the shadow of Microsoft has taken many years and will continue to take some time yet. While Novell has had success with desktop Linux as a thin client or powering point of sale systems, the distribution has yet to make much of a dent in the corporate desktop operating systems arena where Microsoft Windows dominates. But they have been optimistic about their recent moves; for the first time, Novell has a fully-capable alternative to the Windows desktop for the average home and business user.