I have always absolutely loved the super-clean, extremely well thought out Ximian Desktop, so I am not dissapointed at all with the new – looong overdue XD2 (Ximian Desktop 2)!
I’ve just finished installing it on two computers: my laptop and my home computer, and they look (especially the home computer with it’s SGI 1600SW 16:10 aspect ratio flat panel display – yeah showing off! 🙂 ) absolutely the “dog’s bollocks”! Have an eyeful of this (click for larger image):
Comments
Ximian Desktop
What, [i][b]another[/b][/i] desktop?? From the screenshot, looks like a modded Gnome2 desktop. Oh, just read on their site it’s Gnome 2.2, makes sense. So you can say “Hello” to Gnome2 again!
Ximian is the MonkeyLogo people. It’s one of Europe’s main distros, isn’t it?
They’re focused on the Enterprise, so probably not for me. Can’t afford to buy anything anyway.
What sort of Package Management system do they use, if any?
Re: Ximian Desktop
That was me, Martin, incidentally. Didn’t realise I wasn’t logged in.
Your server is still Red Hat, though?
PS: I do realise, there’s a free download (I assume), but to get all the niceties, you’d have to get the paid-for version. Not against that, just can’t afford anything right now.
[i]Martin[/i]
PS: If you wanna get your blood pressure up, I just posted a small comment on the G5 story 🙂
PPS: Gotta remember it needs some BB code to do the line breaks 🙁 Or just square brackets anywhere.
[Modified by: Thor (msandersen) on June 27, 2003 02:36 PM]
Ximian
I must say from the screenshots from their site, it looks [b]very[/b] nice! Yes, the MacOSX is something you have to get used to, would be nice if (when?) you can mod it, without slowinf the system down. That’s a nice thing about Linux, there’s some nice window managers. I do get a little confused about what is the window manager, and what’s a theme
So you can unstall XD2 on Red Hat, not just ximian Linux, them? And what does the actual desktop environment have to do with OpenOffice? It[i] runs[/i] on it, not as part of it, surely.
It would be nice to have Broadband. I have to keep an eye on the Linux magazine’s cover disks.
BTW, had to go help a friend (re)install Win XP Pro (a “fixed” copy, I have absolutely no remorse for depriving them of revenue). I’ve wasted a lot of hours over there in the past trying to fix the problems with the previous Win 98. A loosing battle. Lots of Windows errors. Cheap hardware. But XP works well on it. Trouble was, she had a go at installing a Genius Mouse driver from 98, and it froze the mouse and keyboard, not even Safe Mode could save the install. I’m not that impressed with XP, really, it does fix most of the quite extensive list of problems of its sucessors, and its plug-and-play works nicely etc, but the desktop itself is badly done. Gnome2 (especially the XD2 look) looks better than that.
While installing, I had a browse of the licensing agreement. How reprehensible! It’s a long list of the things you aren’t [b]allowed[/b] to do, you may not connect more than ten (10) computers or other devices (portables, handhelds, etc), whether for file serving or internet access, including “aggregated” connections, where several computers share the one line.That’s not new, but I think that stinks, telling me how many computers I may connect to it. And no doubt the OS has been “fixed” to deny more. Same with Win Server, you pay for number of connections. What can you do with only 100 people connected to a server, unless it’s Intranet? That, and the registration, where a hardware “fingerprint” is taken andrequired to be sent to Microsoft, to avoid multiple installations. This is one of several resons they’re losing business to Linux, having to pay through the nose for the number of connections and every copy of the OS. They are strengthening the Palladium principles even further in the next version. So how far can Microsoft stretch this particular rubber band before it snaps? Pissing off customers is not a good idea (well, for MS anyway, Linux enthusiasts don’t mind if they do 🙂 )
[i]Thor[/i]
Re(2): Ximian Desktop
Computerpoint is still down. shouldn’t you fix [b]that[/b] before your private blog?
Re: Ximian
To be honest, I don’t know what Ximian did with OOo or any of the other applications they bundle with their desktop (it’s not a linux distribution – though very close!) I think what they do is collect the essential applications, bundle them together with their desktop, put their logo alongside those applications and make them available for download, hence the package includes gedit, OOo, Evolution, Galeon, Mozilla and others. What I think happens is that as they populate your installations database, they keep track of what you have on your computer (stuff that you downloaded) and tell you (for free!) when a new package or security update is available on their network, you then fire up “Red Carpet” and set it to grab, verify and install the new releases then update the db that everything went ok.
I don’t mind how far Microsoft stretches the “rubber band” at all, the tighter it gets the better as far as I’m concerned!! Me Linux, You Windows! 😀 😉
Re: Ximian Desktop
No that’s Suse you’re talking about. The Ximian Desktop is a sexed up version of Gnome 2.x, but unlike a “theme” it is a true desktop with it’s own very well thought out features. The interface is I think the cleanest available anyway (Mac included!) and very intuitive to use. I don’t like the standard Gnome desktop, though don’t mind its interface. I most definitely don’t like KDE, it is far too simplified for my liking.
XD2 puts a very nice interface to Gnome and they were the first to produce a “network update” of which RedHat Network is a take-off. Makes managing software installation and updates very simple.
Their main claim to fame other than the desktop is of course the excellent Evolution PIM and email client and they also produce a “connector” product so that Evolution interfaces with Microsoft Exchange and avail Evolution with all the features of Exchange.
With XD2 they worked very hard on interoperability with the Windows world. They include a Ximianised version of OpenOffice and other applications and tools, so that if they release an upgrade or update, it’s an easy enough job to run “Software Update” and it will tell you what is available for your own system to download and install. Pretty neat! They were doing this before Microsoft or others, that was one of the main reasons I chose XD1, now I’m happy to have XD2.
Re(1): Ximian Desktop
anothing thing for the bugtracker… I had a quick look at your G5 response. I’ll wonder over there and plug mine in!
Sorry about the mess with the tables, had to dump the user table and screwed around with the settings just to get it working again.