Going back to early 2000 when it was still Corel Linux, I've been using Xandros as an extremely stable, well-thought-out platform.
When RedHat upgrades were breaking my 3rd party apps (like VMWare and Rational Rose), Xandros continued to run them well long after RedHat/FC made it impossible or expensive (with app upgrades) to keep going.
Xandros' handling of printing and Windows shares has been awesome since the beginning: This distro had common-sense printer and sharing setup when other "easy-to-use" distros were still figuring out how to create makeshift configuration scripts that a non-admin could understand. Corel/Xandros was the first distro I ever witnessed autodetecting USB devices! Their experience with desktop issues goes back a long way.
Enter 2006: I still cannot count on being able to use the other "easy-to-use" distros on a Windows network. No automatic encryption for home-folders (essential for any laptop). Printing in general is still hit or miss. Display configuration tools always miss the mark.
In Xandros, if it misdetects the monitor res/scanrate, I can set the monitor type myself AND expect the refreash rate and res options to change accordingly. It definately comes closest to the feeling of control and expediency one expereiences with Mac and Windows systems.
It has the first Wifi options built into a control panel that I've ever seen (save for OS X or Windows), complete with a way to choose NDIS drivers.
Point/Click setup or removal of home folder encrpytion; excellent application-centric frontend for APT (which includes support for 'Universe' and individual downloads); elegant (if Windows-like) file browser with tool icons for burning CDs and DVDs; built-in support for Realplayer, Adobe PDF, Flash, Java nicely integrated with the rest of the desktop; an excellent (and well-tested) mix of proprietary and open hardware drivers: These are all features which have left me impressed with Xandros.
I am not surprised that Xandros has frequently earned the highest marks from PC-oriented magazines; These reviewers are among the closest to users' concerns in the IT press. Its unfortunate that over the years the Linux sites have seemed to ignore high praise from the "Windows camp" for a distro like Xandros.
I can imagine a GNU distro that is better than Xandros and the others: One where drivers can be downloaded from vendors and installed using a simple GUI, one where driver writers have a consistent environment to write for (and the same for writing and installing apps).
This does not cater to the Unix sysadmin vision of a desktop-as-micromanaged-sandbox with helpless users; That is just a 2005 version of videoterminals that everyone with even a slightly creative role (i.e. all managers) will eventually need to do an end-run around using flexible and approachable products. Eventually, the centralized software repository/database will have to go away (or be beaten back to where most people agree the OS ends and applications begin), otherwise users continuing to battle dependency problems and who are sick of not being able to download the latest upgrades from a real software author/vendor, will continue to turn back toward Mac and Windows.
Users do not fall into two groups: The Helpless and the Unix Guru, even if this idea gratifies the collective ego on this site. In fact, it is the range of people in-between that made the PC Revolution possible! People who were comfortable learning business logic, and who needed some creative control in the local workplace, but didn't want unnecessary hassles. I have experienced it: People have built Sneakernets (remember them?) to tunnel around sclerotic Unix/Mainframe priests, and they'll do it again if they have to. They're doing it right now as they are saying 'Yes' increasingly to a revamped Mac OS while keeping GNU/Linux at arms-length.
Look at the marketshare trend: We can't even GIVE this stuff away. Anticipate the needs of ISVs and their customers, or expect nothing to change.
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Posted by: cprise on January 06, 2006 01:22 PMWhen RedHat upgrades were breaking my 3rd party apps (like VMWare and Rational Rose), Xandros continued to run them well long after RedHat/FC made it impossible or expensive (with app upgrades) to keep going.
Xandros' handling of printing and Windows shares has been awesome since the beginning: This distro had common-sense printer and sharing setup when other "easy-to-use" distros were still figuring out how to create makeshift configuration scripts that a non-admin could understand. Corel/Xandros was the first distro I ever witnessed autodetecting USB devices! Their experience with desktop issues goes back a long way.
Enter 2006: I still cannot count on being able to use the other "easy-to-use" distros on a Windows network. No automatic encryption for home-folders (essential for any laptop). Printing in general is still hit or miss. Display configuration tools always miss the mark.
In Xandros, if it misdetects the monitor res/scanrate, I can set the monitor type myself AND expect the refreash rate and res options to change accordingly. It definately comes closest to the feeling of control and expediency one expereiences with Mac and Windows systems.
It has the first Wifi options built into a control panel that I've ever seen (save for OS X or Windows), complete with a way to choose NDIS drivers.
Point/Click setup or removal of home folder encrpytion; excellent application-centric frontend for APT (which includes support for 'Universe' and individual downloads); elegant (if Windows-like) file browser with tool icons for burning CDs and DVDs; built-in support for Realplayer, Adobe PDF, Flash, Java nicely integrated with the rest of the desktop; an excellent (and well-tested) mix of proprietary and open hardware drivers: These are all features which have left me impressed with Xandros.
I am not surprised that Xandros has frequently earned the highest marks from PC-oriented magazines; These reviewers are among the closest to users' concerns in the IT press. Its unfortunate that over the years the Linux sites have seemed to ignore high praise from the "Windows camp" for a distro like Xandros.
I can imagine a GNU distro that is better than Xandros and the others: One where drivers can be downloaded from vendors and installed using a simple GUI, one where driver writers have a consistent environment to write for (and the same for writing and installing apps).
This does not cater to the Unix sysadmin vision of a desktop-as-micromanaged-sandbox with helpless users; That is just a 2005 version of videoterminals that everyone with even a slightly creative role (i.e. all managers) will eventually need to do an end-run around using flexible and approachable products. Eventually, the centralized software repository/database will have to go away (or be beaten back to where most people agree the OS ends and applications begin), otherwise users continuing to battle dependency problems and who are sick of not being able to download the latest upgrades from a real software author/vendor, will continue to turn back toward Mac and Windows.
Users do not fall into two groups: The Helpless and the Unix Guru, even if this idea gratifies the collective ego on this site. In fact, it is the range of people in-between that made the PC Revolution possible! People who were comfortable learning business logic, and who needed some creative control in the local workplace, but didn't want unnecessary hassles. I have experienced it: People have built Sneakernets (remember them?) to tunnel around sclerotic Unix/Mainframe priests, and they'll do it again if they have to. They're doing it right now as they are saying 'Yes' increasingly to a revamped Mac OS while keeping GNU/Linux at arms-length.
Look at the marketshare trend: We can't even GIVE this stuff away. Anticipate the needs of ISVs and their customers, or expect nothing to change.
Here's hoping...
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