The newly released Xandros Desktop Linux 4.0 is one of the few remaining for-pay Linux distributions on the consumer market. The Home Edition is available for $40, or $80 for a Premium Edition. What do you get for your hard-earned cash? Let’s take a look.
Review: Xandros Desktop Linux 4.0
About The Author
Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
Follow me on Twitter @EugeniaLoli
I’m just curious about the usage of Xandros. On their website, there’s a stripped-down “open circulation” version only available through BitTorrent.
Also, I’m quite sure that non-free distributions like Xandros dont have much community support (packages, help, etc). Well maybe it’s just a misconception. I don’t know.
And it’s quite expensive. Yeah you do get alot of so-called “integration” but it’s still kinda expensive. Maybe it’s all good for corporate people so they can get quick support and a phone number to call to when problems occur (a la RedHat). Again, I don’t know.
But for the average joe, I do know that it’s probably not that way to go. Fedora, Ubuntu, OpenSUSE are all free and comitted to be easy to use and integrated enough for that kind of people. And they don’t come with something like WGA 😉 (…because I read somewhere that Xandros does)
Fedora, Ubuntu and OpenSUSE are far out of the league for the average person, unless they have a linux guru there to help them out. There are still things that are hard on Ubuntu (wireless, non-free software, etc), that are far easier on Xandros (or OS X :-P). This is precisely where this distro is aimed at (as well as small businesses, etc.)
Fedora, Ubuntu and OpenSUSE are far out of the league for the average person, unless they have a linux guru there to help them out. There are still things that are hard on Ubuntu (wireless, non-free software, etc), that are far easier on Xandros (or OS X :-P). This is precisely where this distro is aimed at (as well as small businesses, etc.)
I think you got a point. I was unaware that Xandros provides such support to its users. That’s good 😉
“I think you got a point. I was unaware that Xandros provides such support to its users. That’s good ;-)”
Huh? Where did I mention support? I’m still trying to figure out what exactly you are saying….
“Fedora, Ubuntu and OpenSUSE are far out of the league for the average person, unless they have a linux guru there to help them out. There are still things that are hard on Ubuntu (wireless, non-free software, etc), that are far easier on Xandros (or OS X :-P). This is precisely where this distro is aimed at (as well as small businesses, etc.)”
Why the hell was I modded down for this? I’m expressing my opinion, which I got after trying to switch my Mom onto Ubuntu, and my Aunt after that onto SUSE. I got nothing but phone calls asking how to do stupid little things. This moderation system is being abused…people that mod down opposing opinions should have all of their mod points removed and have to earn them back. I, myself, regularily mod up people who disagree with me if they have an insightful comment. In-fact, I was the first one to mod up the first comment on this story, even though I was also the first one to post a comment disagreeing with something he said.
I liked the old system, where people who actually moderated properly received more mod points than the ones who abused the system.
What exactly was their problem on Ubuntu and SUSE that you think would be solved in Xandros?
1) My Aunt’s son bought a new Nvidia card for Windows, and she wanted to install the drivers for SUSE. She downloaded them from YaST Online Update (as I told her to do in an email), played around with SaX2 (as I told her in the next email, because, you know, SaX2 makes a whole crapload of sense as opposed to, let’s say, “Graphics Configuration”), managed to sort of enable them, X11 would no longer start, so a woman who can barely manage Windows was stuck at a bash prompt….great. These drivers are enabled out of the box last time I checked on Xandros, even on their free download edition. I’ve never had a problem with this personally, but I’m not a newbie.
2) Some of the software names are just downright retarded, and Xandros has been sensible enough to give them more appropriate names. How is a computer newbie supposed to know what Konqueror, Gimp, Evolution, etc do?
3) Installed a trial version of Crossover Office for my Mom so she could give it a testrun on Ubuntu. Think any of the installed programs would actually show up in the Programs Menu? Nope. A newbie doesn’t know how to open a terminal, and launch the program with the correct argument manually. This works almost flawlessly under Xandros.
4) I believe it was Adobe Acrobat Reader that my Mom tried to install on Ubuntu (she didn’t realize that XPDF was already installed, probably because it wasn’t in the Ubuntu menu for some reason). Was it anywhere in Synaptic….nope. (I think it is actually in Multiverse…however, I somehow doubt a completely newbie would know to cd /etc/apt/ && nano -w sources.lst to fix it, as, if I remember correctly, this option wasn’t available in Synaptic in that version of Ubuntu). Plus, the name Multiverse makes no sense in the first place, and people don’t know what it is. Believe it or not, something as simple as a weird name can trip up a newbie.
5) Setting up Samba so my Mom could access her files on her old computer was ridiculous. While it was very easy for me to open up the samba config file, read a quick tutorial on a Ubuntu website, and then have it running, expecting a newbie to do that is a long shot, to say the least. Networking is point and click easy with Xandros on the other hand. And with regards to Samba on SUSE, YaST is an absolute joke for setting up Samba. It is easier to edit the config file myself to get it working.
6) My Aunt’s soundcard would simply not work on SUSE. With Xandros OCE it did work, but my Aunt wanted Windows back after her troubles, so she never ended up using it.
Things may have improved, as I haven’t been using Linux much since I got my Mac, but I know Ubuntu and SUSE didn’t last long on my Mom and Aunt’s desktops. Xandros is what I would recommend to any newbie interested in Linux that approached me today.
1) You’re right. Installing the nvidia drivers is not a point and click process on SUSE Linux or Ubuntu, although it is on SLED 10.
2) Ever since GNOME 2.0 the HIG proposed a solution to this problem. On my menu I have “Epiphany Web Browser”, “Gimp Image Editor”, etc. I’m not familiar with KDE but I’m sure the menus also have clear entries. This is unlike Mac OS X and Windows by the way, which use names like “Outlook Express” and “Safari”.
3) That’s a bug in the CrossOffice version you tried. It should create a “Windows Programs” category on your main menu (for GNOME or KDE), which is the same as the “Programs” menu on Windows. This is done on any version of CrossOffice, not just the one in Xandros.
I don’t know if the normal CrossOver handles .exe files (installers for example). But if it doesn’t it’s quite an easy fix that Code Weavers customers should request.
4) Your mom did something very uncommon, I’d say because she was badly trained by a previous environment.
Ubuntu and SUSE are both configured so that when you double click a PDF document from your file manager or web browser the right program is loaded. The idea is that the user doesn’t have to know what a PDF is. My mom uses GNU/Linux so she wasn’t forced to learn, unlike Windows users that have to go and download extra software from Adobe. So having a Windows background is the problem here.
(as a note, SLED 10 comes with Adobe Acrobat pre-installed already).
5) I think setting up a network is not something the regular mom or aunt would do. Couldn’t you help her with that?
Now, I have to admit I’m partial against Xandros, because I’m not a big fan of proprietary operating systems, specially when it doesn’t offer anything appealing against other 100% Free alternatives. That’s a problem for all proprietary systems based on GNU, Linux and GNOME or KDE, and to be honest I don’t have much faith in the future of these companies.
having purchased Xandros 1.1, Xandros 2 deluxe and business and Xandros 3 business editions from them as well as beta testing all 3 an the server product.
but I am very dissapointed in the direction for Xandros 4, with thier own version of “Product Activation” inserted into the system, it reeks of the things that I migrated to linux to escape.
I explained my position to Matty and Xandros as such:
“At this time I am not going to purchase Xandros Desktop 4, having read the reviews of X4 they do sound positive and I did have a good time beta testing your Server Product, but the activation scheme that Xandros has implemented strikes me as being too much like the one I escaped when I first switched to linux from Microsoft. I understand the need to protect your assets on a server product, and I support the idea of serial numbers and confirmations to authorize updates. But the whole idea of Xandros Activation leaves a bitter taste in my mouth, since Xandros Desktop 1 I’ve been a customer of yours, enjoying each Desktop OS you released. But I cannot express to you enough how uneasy the activation of X4 strikes me, how long before we see and XGA, Xandros Genuine Advantage?
I began working with Linux because I was tired of feeling trapped and being treated like a criminal by my OS, and I worry that is the path Xandros is heading.
I did wish to try Xandros 4, but I can’t see purchasing it to support your decision to go the activation route.”
Edited 2006-07-08 12:13
but I am very dissapointed in the direction for Xandros 4, with thier own version of “Product Activation” inserted into the system, it reeks of the things that I migrated to linux to escape.
Yup, and a lot of people thought this was just a Microsft thing. lol
Yup, and a lot of people thought this was just a Microsft thing. lol
And alot of people are stupid too.
Its existed in the UNIX world for years; take the Sun Compilers, until recently, you had to submit your details, name, address, the serial number, the hostID, the machine number etc. and wait for the information to be sent back in terms of licence activation codes.
Same issue used to happen with SGI; install Photoshop, then having to wait for the activation/password to turn your copy of Photoshop into a fully running version.
About the only difference between the UNIX and Windows world, the Windows world randomly generate a machine ID where as these UNIX machines had machine ID’s hardcoded into their firmware, so if you did need to reinstall the software, you didn’t need to ring up and request another code.
http://shots.osdir.com/slideshows/slideshow.php?release=687&slide=2…
Xandros desktop is actually a pretty nice desktop for a new “computer user”. I think one of the things that sets Xandros apart from many other debian derivatives is XFM and their painless installation. Xandros developed a proprietary file manager / web browser and named it Xandros File Manager.
XFM is more familar to Windows Explorer and so new Linux converts will find it very comfortable and easy to use.
http://www.mvcompany.net/ebayimg/Xandros/xfm_ss.jpg
Xandros also wrote a frontend to CLAMAV so that Windows users will feel safe “virus scanning” their Linux box.
http://www.xandros.com/products/business/desktop/screenshots/antivi…
Aside from the fact that you have nasties like product activation and that Xandros Network (their paid software subscription service) allows you to pay for open source software, it is a great distro. I’ll still recommend Ubuntu to newbies for a free Linux distro though.
Can be only my point, but i hate this of “windows-like-things-to-be-userfriendly”. Nobody needs a Windows Explorer to copy/move/delete/whatever, people can do it with nautilus or konqueror. They will take less than 30 sec. to copy a file and paste it in nautilus/konqueror. It’s easy to do! Dont _WASTE_ time writing this apps.
Why Xandros Desktop users need and Antivirus?! To alert users? Please dont alert users with a thing that _dont_ affect GNU/Linux systems.
Edited 2006-07-08 20:23
Can be only my point, but i hate this of “windows-like-things-to-be-userfriendly”. Nobody needs a Windows Explorer to copy/move/delete/whatever, people can do it with nautilus or konqueror. They will take less than 30 sec. to copy a file and paste it in nautilus/konqueror. It’s easy to do! Dont _WASTE_ time writing this apps.
Why Xandros Desktop users need and Antivirus?! To alert users? Please dont alert users with a thing that _dont_ affect GNU/Linux systems.
I understand your complaints, but Xandros is aimed towards a business environment. Anytime a business has to spend training someone to learn a new way to browse files, and anytime the users waste trying to remember the new way, count as lost revenue. It is not as though nautilus/konqueror are the most difficult programs in the world to use, but just a waste of time to learn if you have one that functions so much like what you are used to. Business computers are about speed and efficiency, that’s all.
As for the antivirus, while I know virii for Linux may be rare (there have been what, 2?) it is still something to pay attention to when you are on a business network with important classified information. It also may become more of a problem as more and more businesses switch their servers over to Linux. This doesn’t mean Linux isn’t super secure and a lot harder to infect, but just a reality of gaining market share. No OS is 100% secure, even OpenBSD. If you have to access the internet, you are vulnerable, and when you may have credit card numbers or social security numbers it only makes sense to have a virus scanner just in case.
I think some of you may be forgetting the target audiences of Xandros, or mistaking it with Linspire. Xandros #1 purpose is the workstation environment, with a small focus on home use. With this in mind, their main goal is Windows network integration. A smart idea I think, considering how many businesses use Linux servers already, it’s only a matter of time before a certain chunk wants to make the workstations match.
If you don’t need Windows integration, as it sounds, then pick up another distro such as Ubuntu or SUSE, but don’t attack the developers at Xandros for supporting features their clients request.
Nobody needs a Windows Explorer to copy/move/delete/whatever, people can do it with nautilus or konqueror.
Well, companies like Xandros are in a better position to judge. If they could have just used Konqueror or Nautilus then I’m sure they would have done so. Unfortunately, when they’ve focused on what users need they’ve fallen short.
Konqueror could be a much better file manager if it looked at what users did – copy and paste files not just around their home folder, but to and from different devices and to and from locations on their local network. It’s a whole lot more difficult to do with Konqueror than it really should be, and hopefully some of the good KDE people can fix this mess with Konqueror in KDE 4.
It’s actually really easy to get a quick fix. You simply add in the storage devices on a person’s computer into the left hand pane, alongside the user’s home folder, so it’s easy to copy and past around. You can also do that with network shares as well. No more hunting around in different tabs, give the users what they need there and then, just as Xandros has done with XFM, and just as Windows Explorer does.
Why Xandros Desktop users need and Antivirus?!
Well, it’s nice if users don’t pass viruses on to other Windows users.
I actually rather liked the XFM screenshot I saw. It gives a clear overview of things, unlike f.ex. Nautilus. Two-pane view is something that does work. Sure, Nautilus is easy to use and so on, but I think I’d rather use XFM instead.
Oh, and if you didn’t understand it yet, the Antivirus is there to scan Windows applications one might have and/or files coming from a Windows machine. Xandros includes CrossOver Office for running Windows apps, so it does make a lot of sense to make sure they are virus-free.
What happens when your Xandros user gets an email virus inside a joke that _doesn’t_ affect his Xandros install, and he notices nothing wrong, so he forwards it on to a Windows user and it _does_ affect his install, completely screwing up his computer?
And yes, things _do_ need to be like Windows for them to be user friendly, because 95% of all non-geeks _are used to Windows_.
PS. I hate when _people_ _do_ _this_
What will happen is that the windows user will sooner or later learn to be careful. My son use to like playing with the cigarette lighter in the car, he burned his finger once, he hasnt touched it since.
He will also figure out that linux wasnt affected.
Hopefully they will both learn to stop forwarding jokes as well as wasting time with them.
i toyed around xzndros 3 and found it interesting, but it never caught my attention the way pc linux has done. is there no free upgrade to 4 from 3 ?
Xandros has always been a decent business distribution, with Windows Network integration and the familiarity of a Windows interface – but different. XFM is a pretty decent file browser. Yes, it looks like Windows Explorer but it has a familar and straightforward enough layout whilst at the same time having a few things that are different, unlike something like Nautilus. When you’re supporting users you inevitably end up with Windows Explorer open anyway. It’s just the way to find, copy and move files in the way you sometimes need.
Basically, it offers everything SLED does in terms of a Windows replacement point of view, and some things it doesn’t, apart from some 3D effects (not yet enabled) and VB macro integration. It’s debatable how much more those features are going to make people switch to a Linux desktop, which is why I’ve been less than enthusiastic about SLED.
I found this interesting:
Businesses deploying Linux in an office environment need to know that the company they purchase their operating system from will still be around in several years. If for-pay Linux distros are going the way of the dodo, purchasing one is a risky proposition.
This pretty much strikes out paid-for enterprise distributions like Xandros and SLED if true. I think this will be the case because distributors have to make money out of it somehow to fund themselves. The question is, do they charge for the box and put in something like activation to enforce it? Do they charge for updates? From an end user’s point of view this becomes too much hassle, and it’s just as easy to buy Windows as part of a new computer and get free updates and all the software you can buy or download after that.
A distributor will have to try and find a way of giving away their Linux distribution but funding their development activities in other ways. A Microsoft type operating system license, which is what Xandros and Novell are trying to do with their open source software, just isn’t going to work as a money making scheme in this world. At best, it can only ever be a niche business.
I have a pretty fair idea of how this could be done, but the people who can make it happen probably wouldn’t do it, some people out in the open source community would inevitably be outraged and it would take a huge amount of work and effort. Desktop Linux is a lot further away than many people seem to think.
Linspire and Xandros are gonna have a hard time differenciating from Ubuntu and other free OS to justify having to pay.
Businesses deploying Linux in an office environment need to know that the company they purchase their operating system from will still be around in several years. If for-pay Linux distros are going the way of the dodo, purchasing one is a risky proposition.
Sad, but true…
“Linspire and Xandros are gonna have a hard time differenciating from Ubuntu and other free OS to justify having to pay. Sad, but TRUE”
I must tell I like my Xandros ver.2 Desktop Business Edition and Xandros Desktop ver.3 Open Circulation Edition since I can do all I have to do with my computers.
I’ve been reading numerous Xandros ver.4 reviews and changelog lists but I still can’t find one single reason to upgrade to “version four”.As an
Xandros network registered user I’ve got couple offers from Xandros to upgrade at discount price but I found their preorder offers totally nonatractive to me.
http://www.xandros.com/products/upgrade_pricing.html
http://www.xandros.com/ads/preorder_desktop.html
From what’s new to me in latest Xandros release I would say Xandros developers and maintainers are just adding to what’s already marked (and marketed) as “most user frinedly distibution” aimed to Linux newbies and people ready to migrate from Microsoft to other platforms.
In other words Xandros ver.4 Xandros File Manager (havily tweaked hybrid between Konqueror, Samba and K3b ) just got better, there’s Antivirus protection ( introduced with XDE ver.3) and Migration tool Versora for people fed up with their Windows annoyances. Nothing new to me.
But still there’s the market for this distribution and it’s not only Linux newbies but thousands of small business/offices since Xandros has
well rounded server solutions for small networks as well. Call it niche market or somesuch but it really cuts into almost prohibitive Miscrosoft upgrade path ( costwise )
http://www.xandros.com/products/business/server/solutions/smb.html
I use to install and test various Linux distributions almost weekly and if I had to choose between Xandros 4. and PSlinuxOS ( still version 0.98 ) the latter one will be my choice. Reason?
I find it even more friendly than Xandros 4 , less boring GUI with much more customisation options, most recent KDE (3.5.3 and Xandros is stil 3.4.2.)
better support for multimedia ( even Microsoft proprietary *.wma format) wider range of applications available for installation and open source philosophy.
Still cannot comment Xandros introduction of
software activation. To be honest I dislike SuSE 10.1
activation too but that’s what makes difference between Open Source Software Linux distributions free software releases and commercial incarnations of the (basically) same code source.
A Microsoft type operating system license, which is what Xandros and Novell are trying to do with their open source software, just isn’t going to work as a money making scheme in this world. At best, it can only ever be a niche business.
How much i prefer freedom it seems the XGA could bring the xandros users all the propietary stuff.Because xandros can make hard the amount of boxen the propietary stuff will run on.An requirement to get a licence for propietary formats.
Desktop Linux is a lot further away than many people seem to think.
Maybe not.
An requirement to get a licence for propietary formats.
Didn’t really catch all of that, but proprietary formats will also kill Linux distributors like Xandros simply because they become reliant on them, and they then become reliant on the companies who will allow them to continue to use them. If that stops happening it’s the end of their business.
No distribution seems to understand just how bad it is for them to run around trying to support Windows Media and all sorts of other proprietary formats where they depend on goodwill or technology they can reverse engineer. They need to drive support and demand for formats which they can actually use, both now and forever, on a level playing field.
“Desktop Linux is a lot further away than many people seem to think.”
Maybe not.
Almost certainly yes for reasons I’ve outlined. You can’t overturn that with a two word response I’m afraid.
Yes, because we all know that if all of the Linux Distros of the world unite, that whole whopping 2% of users are going to cause the other 98% to move away from proprietary formats and completely shift the market towards OGG and other, similar formats…..get real. People will just keep sending the Linux users the WMV and WMA files, and then tell the Linux users to switch to Windows when they can’t open the files.
Yes, because we all know that if all of the Linux Distros of the world unite, that whole whopping 2% of users are going to cause the other 98% to move away from proprietary formats and completely shift the market towards OGG and other, similar formats…..get real.
If you concentrate on serving your own users, and the users who can use your distribution today without worrying about complete Microsoft compatibility or anything else, and drive support for your own platform and market in its own right as your userbase increases, then you drive support for the formats that you use and promote. Certainly, properly handled Linux desktop usage can be several times what Apple’s is now.
If you keep chasing after proprietary formats you have no control over, particularly without replacing them with something else, then you’re on to a loser because you’re simply not in control of them. As Microsoft decides to favour Windows with Windows Media over time, you become a fifth class citizen who has helped Microsoft’s format reach the dominance it has, and then you are spat out and left for dead. Many people need to get real about that.
People will just keep sending the Linux users the WMV and WMA files, and then tell the Linux users to switch to Windows when they can’t open the files.
WMV and WMA are not as widespread as Real, MP3 or other formats. The biggest mistake Linux distributors can make is boosting support of Windows Media still further. Yes, Real is proprietary and it is preferable to give it some open competition in the long term, but Real do not have a vested interest as Microsoft will of using their format to favour their own operating system. If Windows Media becomes more popular, inevitably that’s what will happen.
This is a long slow grind. You serve the users you can right now, and make your distribution so good and complete that people just pick it up. Your userbase gradually increases which then boosts support and demand for formats you promote, and where they can be used on your operating system and others.
It’s rather like web developers having to at least pay attention to supporting Firefox now. Imagine if people had just said “Oh, we’ll just use the MSIE engine to power our web browser”. Imagine how far that would have got.
Edited 2006-07-09 15:38
I’m using a week old 4.0 premium install at this moment and find it excellent in too many ways to enumerate in a few sentences. And since I have 2 XP units on this home LAN I can compare usefulness continuously. I’m an intermediate user (still tinkering with this SeaMonkey install) and I totally concur with the points made about Linux vs the average user. They just want to fire up the vehicle and get to work. They could care less what is “under the hood” and have neither the time nor inclination to get there hands dirty.
The WGA issue has been hammered ad nauseum in the Xandros forums so all I’ll say is home users have no limit to installs and Xandros is a BUSINESS and the MS comparisons are silly (or borderline paranoia). D.
I’m an intermediate user (still tinkering with this SeaMonkey install) and I totally concur with the points made about Linux vs the average user. They just want to fire up the vehicle and get to work. They could care less what is “under the hood” and have neither the time nor inclination to get there hands dirty.
Certainly agree there. If the free distros want to be an adequate replacement then they’re going to have to switch their focus a bit and work out a way of adding the quality and finish paid-for distributions do. Instead, free distributions tend to get bogged down in minutia and things which just don’t matter one bit. You only need to look at the the farce of CUPS and printing in the current Ubuntu and Kubuntu.
…and Xandros is a BUSINESS and the MS comparisons are silly (or borderline paranoia). D.
I think people go too far in either direction. Xandros has to make a decision as to whether some sort of activation mechanism is worth it, considering they’re a minority in a monopoly market. That’s their perogative. They also probably want to restrict access to their download servers to people who’ve actually paid, which is fair eough I think. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that considering they actually run and are responsible for them.
The worst thing Xandros could do is go crazy with something which is never going to work and go bankrupt. Do people really want to see desktop Linux companies going bankrupt, or at least trying to be successful?
Users can activate the product up to 10 installs (same machine or different machines). After this, they will be unable to activate the product on future installs / re-installs until they contact Xandros for permission to do so and confirm they are a legitimate user. This is to try and prevent piracy of the product and revenue loss through unauthorized use of the Xandros download servers.
‘right’ or not this simply will not fly with Linux users. Whether or not it would be fine for joe sixpack doesn’t matter…the only way he gets it these days is when someone ELSE tells him/her about it and (usually) has it installed on their computer for them.
Other than that…What’s Xandros to do?
Businesses, on the other hand, probably won’t mind as much.
A good rule of thumb for software companies: when you’re trying to make a market etc etc etc….don’t piss off the geeks. It doesn’t bode well.
Ubunta and Xandros never worked on my cheap Emachine.
I don’t like either.
Let’s break down that sentence… “Ubuntu and Xandros never worked on my cheap Emachine.”
Of course you don’t like either, because they probably saw that you were running an eMachine and thought “Wow, I will not insult myself by installing on this hunk of crap.”
For the record, I installed Ubuntu Dapper Drake on a eMachine for a friend, I had to swap out motherboards because the onboard video puked. Ubuntu runs much faster than XP does on the machine.
…I wouldn’t spend a cent for a 32 bit OS.
I am really fed up. 64bit processors have been available for desktop PCs for 3 years now, and every new AMD and most Intel powered boxes which people buy are 64bit now.
I find it ludicrous that one can’t take full advantage of it.
>> I am really fed up. 64bit processors have been available for desktop PCs for 3 years now, and every new AMD and most Intel powered boxes which people buy are 64bit now.
I find it ludicrous that one can’t take full advantage of it.
That could have something to do with the only place you see REAL gains is in raw, repetative memory copies – which in the age of offloading everything to the video card, alpha shadows and transparancy, and actually processing information instead of just shoving it around… The gains in performance of a 64 bit OS over the 32 bit versions is quite often not worth the effort of rewriting code to support it… Not to mention it can often be painfully SLOWER the moment you start manipulating data at the byte level (like, oh… parsing TEXT, encrypting a datastream, etc). (although with proper L1 and L2 cache that drawback can be negated)
Not to mention… ooh, 3 years. BFD – it took HOW many years after the 386 came out to get a true native 32 bit x86 OS? and what happened to that first one (OS2) again?
People often forget it’s been TWO DECADES since the introduction of the 386, it took SEVEN YEARS to even have the first ‘viable’ 32 bit OS (OS2 2.0 – prior to 1992 OS/2 ran in 16 bit protected mode only). By comparison, 64 bit Linux has been moving at light speed.
…and it’s not too surprising that the ‘simpler’ pay distro’s aiming at the desktop haven’t jumped on the bandwagon… Don’t know if you’ve used any of the free 64 bit distros, but for anything more complex than a server (which is bad when a server is the ‘simple’ target) 64 bit linux just ‘isn’t ready for prime-time’.
Not to mention that for all the talk there aren’t THAT many code level differences on a modern 32 bit x86 and the original i386… sure we’ve tacked on some extra opcodes (SSE, MMX, etc) but all the original i386 opcodes are present – that’s a two decade legacy of programming habits and knowledge to overcome.
By comparison 64 bit is in it’s infancy, AND we’re still having a pissing contest over which codebase (IA64 or A64) is going to be adopted. Multiple instruction sets, massive existing codebase to be rewritten – and you’re bitching at the three year mark?
“and you’re bitching at the three year mark?”
Well, Mac OS X fully supports 64bit. So should Vista when it it is released (probably rubbish, I know it)
The Linux distro with the most mature 64bit support is SUSE, but unfortunately it has got many problems of its own (the package manager…and many others I am experiencing here)
I found your post interesting nonetheless
>> Well, Mac OS X fully supports 64bit. So should Vista when it it is released (probably rubbish, I know it)
Well… that’s not ENTIRELY true. While yes, Tiger added a lot more 64 bit support than Panther offerred, it’s still not truly a 64 bit OS as a lot of subsystems still run in 32 bit mode.
Basically, the Kernel and Libsystem are 64 bit, but almost everything else sees a 32 bit address space – limiting the functionality. While you can leverage some 64 bit opcodes (like advanced math) in your software, fact is most all the device drivers – not to mention the GUI are still 32 bit applications…
Oh crap, it’s Windows 3.1 in 386 enhanced mode. (harsh comparison, but a accurate one)
Anonymous Penguin: How lame can you get? I sometime feel like abusing people like you. So let me do it today. Your mother must be a whore who slept with Linus to give birth to a asshole penguin like you. You son of a bith motherf–king asshole, you linux whore, you die like a pig you asshole.
Now to the point: Windows XP and 2k3 both have x64-bit support. Microsoft has far better optimization for x64-bit than any other compiler specially gcc. So Vista will definately have 64-bit support and sorry to break your bubble but Windows x64-bit support is still far better most other OSes.
Also Vista server release will be only 64-bit so guess what Microsoft has already made their bet that 64-bit is the future platform for server.
If you used your brain before your keyboard…
When I wrote:
“So should Vista when it it is released (probably rubbish, I know it)”
I was not referring to 64bit support, every idiot knows that Vista has/will have it.
I was referring to the likely quality of Vista. If you tried Beta 2 and if you have read what some Microsoft top guns believe, you would agree with me.
Similarly I wrote:
“The Linux distro with the most mature 64bit support is SUSE, but unfortunately it has got many problems of its own (the package manager…and many others I am experiencing here)”
So I am much more objective than most.
You know, I hate voting down people who make good points like:
>> Now to the point: Windows XP and 2k3 both have x64-bit support. Microsoft has far better optimization for x64-bit than any other compiler specially gcc. So Vista will definately have 64-bit support and sorry to break your bubble but Windows x64-bit support is still far better most other OSes.
But when you open up with a direct personal attack, the entire rest of the post is meaningless.
in spending money in any linux distribution unless you do need good technical support.
You can get most of the things Xandros offers with most modern linux distributions (Fedora, SuSE, Ubuntu for example), and without paying anything.
You don’t even need to be a linug guru to install, remove or upgrade packages, as you can do it with a nice graphical application, and they are quite easy for everyday use.
Just learn a little about linux and the packages out there and 99% of what a commercial distro does for you will be taken care of.
I think you should at least be able to get updates thru XN without activation. THAT does smell of microsoft and where they are headed.
Come on, even pirated copies need secuirty updates!
The same ugly interface. When will Linux have a clean and smooth looking interface like OSX or Vista
I want to use Linux but i am quite turned off with the fugly UI.
It’s obvious that Xandros is positioning their desktop as a “replacement” for Windows for those Windows users who are fed up with that product. As their press release states: “Xandros, the leading provider of easy-to-use Linux alternatives to Windows desktop and server products.” This sets certain expectations.
The problem here is that typical Windows users will eventually perceive Xandros 4.0 as a step down. Most Windows users are tempted to leave Windows because of the following reasons: (1) They are tired of viruses and spyware and malware and all the other “nasties” that they have to worry about, (2) They are tired of insulting Microsoft “activation” and “genuine advantage” schemes.
When they first boot up the new Xandros 4.0, they are greeted with the requirement to “activate” their product – this has been discussed above. Then the new Xandros Security Suite starts nagging them to update their antivirus and do a scan, etc. “But I thought I’d left all those ‘nasties’ behind when turning to Linux – you mean I still have to deal with all that crap here???”
Then they start discovering all the stuff that doesn’t work – the lack of total hardware support, the lack of drivers for that new all-in-one printer, the inability to run that “Thomas the Tank Engine” game for their kid, the inability to watch any Quicktime 7 trailers at apple.com, the inability to watch Windows Media files that are protected by DRM, the inability to… the list goes on.
In the end, users could be forgiven for thinking, “Have I actually downgraded by moving to this product? It seems to offer all the disadvantages of Windows with few advantages!”
I applaud Xandros for creating a product which is deceptively familiar to Windows and therefore should initially offer some comfort to Windows converts and require a gentle learning curve. However, once the familiarity wears off, it is then that the reality starts to creep in – heh, this is actually NOT Windows and, in some ways, appears to be LESS THAN Windows. When looked at from this angle, there may be some advantage to Linux distributions that do not seek to mimick Windows – in this way, the new convert is reminded from the get-go that “Heh, this IS different, we are NOT in Windows-land any more”, and expectations are set appropriately as a result.
Make it look and behave like Windows and, when it doesn’t behave like Windows (or when it does, as in the case of activation and security suites!), you have a perception and expectation problem. Added to this that most users received Windows “free” with their machine (or so they believe) and Xandros 4.0 Premium costs almost the same as a Windows XP Home upgrade license, I think many people will wonder why they should bother forking out for what is essentially a “downgrade” to them.
Edited 2006-07-09 22:02
Thank you for that excellent review. I’ve been a Xandros user since 2.0 but this latest version I noticed right away has a lot of marketing fluff which makes it appear to have things (mp3 creation and dvd playback for example) that it actually does not. Oh yea, sure it will play mp3’s thanks to RealPlayer but that’s not a Xandros feature at all. It will play un-encrypted dvd’s but so will every other Linux distro out there meaning that’s also not Xandros specific and let’s face it what we want is legal encrypted dvd support let’s stop kidding ourselves.
Since finding Ubuntu I’ve found I’d rather donate to that project and use it and hope for seperate programs to come along to legally fill in the gaps for mp3 and dvd (mp3 is actually here already and dvd is promised soon) than pay for another Linux distro which is always far behind. I had hoped when Novell aquired Suse we’d see a company that could finally cause these changes to come about but alas, they fail again.