Novell, Xandros Staking Out Desktop

The two companies& approaches to the channel are also dissimilar. Xandros& channel program for VARs and system integrators is being restructured and is expected to be ready in the middle of the first quarter of 2006. Meanwhile, the company is offering a margin of 28 percent on its products. In contrast, the Novell PartnerNet channel program is far more robust. Novell provides up to 15 phone technical-support incidents and unlimited online help during installation and integration. Novell did not disclose its margins.

CRN Test Center engineers put both Linux desktops through their paces, with the solution provider&s day-to-day responsibilities in mind. The setup process for Xandros Desktop OS 3 Business Edition is as transparent as that for a Windows XP installation, so it took CRN Test Center engineers only a couple of minutes. Installation for Novell Linux Desktop 9, while more complex, provides more control for administrators that perform network installations.

Undoubtedly created for corporate workstations, Novell Linux Desktop includes the company&s robust iFolder client backup solution. The iFolder client can be deployed on one or multiple computers running Linux and Windows and requires a centralized server to distribute files. Every time a user updates a file in an iFolder directory, the iFolder client synchronizes it with a central server.

Conversely, Xandros& Business Edition includes a simple archiving method that relies on the Zip Archive utility. The process is manual. For remote storage, users have to use physical media such as tape, CDs or DVDs. The rsync command line utility and backup files can be run across partitions. However, the utility does not work across separate network domains.

Novell Linux Desktop ships with an enhanced version of OpenOffice called Novell OpenOffice, which includes Agfa fonts—the same fonts bundled in Microsoft Office. Because it has licensed the Agfa fonts, Novell has made it easier for OpenOffice users to open Microsoft Word documents with minimal conversion issues.

Xandros ships with Sun&s StarOffice and CodeWeaver&s CrossOver Office, which provides access to Windows productivity software through an emulator. CrossOver Office works with Microsoft Office XP, Project and Visio. However, Access and Visio are not fully supported. Since Visual Basic for Microsoft Office tools is only partially supported by StarOffice and OpenOffice, CrossOver Office is the most productive way to work with Windows Office files.

Out of the box, the Xandros product offers limited support for direct server-side e-mail on Windows. It ships with Mozilla&s Thunderbird e-mail client, which can only port Outlook data from computers not using Exchange servers. The Xandros package also comes with an extra CD that allows for an upgrade to Novell&s Evolution, which is a Microsoft Outlook clone that can communicate with Exchange 2000 and 2003 servers through a connector. The connector is also bundled in the CD. Novell Linux Desktop installs Evolution out of the box.

Ximian&s Mono runtime engine is perhaps the most significant tool included with the Novell product. Mono is an open-source Linux cross-platform runtime environment that executes .Net&s Common Language Infrastructure. With Mono, Microsoft developers can port some .Net programs onto Linux and execute them natively. Mono can be embedded in some Linux C and C++ programs and be used to extend C# applications. The Mono project supports ADO.Net, ASP.Net, WinForms and some of Microsoft&s Web Service Enhancement stack.

For remote management, Novell includes Ximian&s Red Carpet daemon, now part of Novell&s ZenWorks line. The daemon requires ZenWorks Linux Management Server, which must be licensed separately for each physical server. Red Carpet is the Novell Linux Desktop&s main software update tool. Through the YaST Control Center, Novell makes the YaST and YaST2 online update utilities available.

Xandros& remote-management option is Xandros Desktop Management Server (xDMS), which is part of its Control Center and is similar to YaST2.

While Novell Linux Desktop excels in the enterprise space and makes for a better corporate workstation, Xandros Desktop OS 3 Business Edition, a recommended product, empowers non-technical users by simplifying its installation and desktop tools. Ultimately, however, Test Center engineers recommend working with Novell over Xandros because of its wide variety of tools and strong channel presence.