[plug] Novell improves graphics on Linux

[Senectus .]

where did you pull that article from?

On 2/8/06, Randal Adamson <ranz at devdata.net> wrote:
>
> <snip>
> 08/02/2006 08:02:26
> Novell Tuesday released improvements to the way Linux handles graphics and
> video -- a move aimed at making the operating system more attractive to
> mainstream desktop users.
> The improvements to the XGL graphics subsystem that underlies Linux will
> help it render images faster and improve 3-D graphics and video for users on
> existing hardware, said Charlie Mancusi-Ungaro, director of marketing for
> Linux and open-source at Novell. "This puts Linux at the forefront of where
> graphical desktop interfaces are going," he said.
> XGL, which stands for X over OpenGL, is a version of the two-decade-old X
> Window System popular on Unix operating systems. It does not actually
> provide the desktop interface itself, instead supporting Linux desktop
> environments such as KDE or GNOME.
> At Novell's Web site, users can see videos previewing some of the
> enhancements provided by XGL. They include transparent application or
> browser windows so that icons underneath are still visible, windows that can
> quickly shrink to thumbnail-size while videos continue to play, and -- for
> power users running many applications -- the ability to open up to four
> desktops on a 3-D cube interface that users can rotate for program access.
> The improvements will be available to Linux users running PCs with 3-D
> graphics cards and relatively up-to-date hardware, meaning computers that
> have been bought in the last 18 months or so, said Mancusi-Ungaro.
> Jakob Nielsen, a usability expert with Nielsen Norman Group, applauded the
> transparency and extra desktop features. But he was less impressed with the
> ability for application windows to be dragged halfway between desktops and
> viewed in 3-D. He called it "a great way to show off graphical horsepower
> but basically useless."
> Nielsen said Linux's reputation for having a user interface that's less
> attractive and harder to use than those in Apple's Mac OS X or Microsoft's
> Windows is well-earned, and a natural result of its technical heritage.
> "Linux has always been able to attract great programming talent, but not as
> many talented usability people," Nielsen said. He noted that it's often
> difficult in the free-wheeling open-source culture to veto new features that
> add marginal utility at the cost of increased complexity. "To have a simple
> unified experience that is good for the average user requires someone to say
> no," he said.
> The features enabled by XGL throw out a preemptive challenge to the upcoming
> Windows Vista, which Microsoft is promising will have similar new features
> and more in its Aero graphical user interface.
> While Microsoft has long suffered from a tendency to overstuff features at
> the cost of ease of use, said Nielsen, it is "taking a new approach" with
> Vista.
> Development of XGL is led by David Reveman, a Swedish software developer
> with notoriously eccentric work habits even by programmers' standards.
> Reveman works in the top floor of a barn in rural Sweden, according to
> Wikipedia, with co-workers from Novell flying to the country every two to
> three months to collect code and post it online.
> The XGL source code is available for download by open-source programmers at
> Freedesktop.org. The improvements will be available as an option for users
> installing Version 10 of Novell Linux Desktop, which is due out by the
> summer, Mancusi-Ungaro said. But because the code is being made available as
> open-source, he expects XGL to be adopted by other flavors of Linux such as
> Red Hat or Ubuntu.
> </snip>
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