By Bill Bennett
Novell hopes its SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 (SLED) will tempt everyday computer owners to abandon Windows and switch to a newer, cheaper and supposedly better alternative.
The operating system goes a long way to achieving this goal. For some people it may go all the way. For others it falls short, but probably not by much. If you work for a larger company where professional support people are on hand, switching might be relatively painless.
Moving to any version of Linux is likely to be harder in small businesses and homes where there's no resident expert.
For example, when I installed the software on my home system it had difficulty recognising my wireless mouse, monitor and ADSL hub; Windows XP got everything right first time. It took two or three evenings to troubleshoot these problems. So be warned, even an easy-to-use version of Linux can be challenging.
Once installed, SLED is impressive. It has a clean, eye-catching look complete with visual effects, animations and transparencies. You can set up multiple desktops and then switch between them with a rotating 3D cube - it's fair to say this is a flashy and cool feature rather than a serious productivity aid.
In visual terms SLED is on a level footing with Apple's OS X and Microsoft Vista Aero. Unlike many versions or distributions of Linux, which overwhelm users with myriad options and vast menus of programs, there's an uncluttered feel, making it easy to navigate.
This well-designed user interface is perhaps Novell's greatest asset in wooing users away from Windows. Linux often looks too hard - SLED doesn't. In reality it acts in a very familiar Windows kind of way. Despite propaganda, no operating system is intuitive - but this one is certainly easy to learn and won't stress Windows users.
Some versions of Linux are free. SLED isn't, yet at $67 a computer it still costs only about 20 per cent of the expected price of Microsoft Windows Vista. What's more, SLED comes with Open Office, a full suite of applications that delivers most of the functionality of Microsoft Office.