<HTML><BODY>
<DIV><snip></DIV><FONT size=1>
<DIV>08/02/2006 08:02:26</DIV>
<DIV>Novell Tuesday released improvements to the way Linux handles graphics
and</DIV>
<DIV>video -- a move aimed at making the operating system more attractive
to</DIV>
<DIV>mainstream desktop users. </DIV>
<DIV>The improvements to the XGL graphics subsystem that underlies Linux
will</DIV>
<DIV>help it render images faster and improve 3-D graphics and video for
users on</DIV>
<DIV>existing hardware, said Charlie Mancusi-Ungaro, director of marketing
for</DIV>
<DIV>Linux and open-source at Novell. "This puts Linux at the forefront of
where</DIV>
<DIV>graphical desktop interfaces are going," he said. </DIV>
<DIV>XGL, which stands for X over OpenGL, is a version of the two-decade-old
X</DIV>
<DIV>Window System popular on Unix operating systems. It does not
actually</DIV>
<DIV>provide the desktop interface itself, instead supporting Linux
desktop</DIV>
<DIV>environments such as KDE or GNOME. </DIV>
<DIV>At Novell's Web site, users can see videos previewing some of the</DIV>
<DIV>enhancements provided by XGL. They include transparent application
or</DIV>
<DIV>browser windows so that icons underneath are still visible, windows
that can</DIV>
<DIV>quickly shrink to thumbnail-size while videos continue to play, and --
for</DIV>
<DIV>power users running many applications -- the ability to open up to
four</DIV>
<DIV>desktops on a 3-D cube interface that users can rotate for program
access. </DIV>
<DIV>The improvements will be available to Linux users running PCs with
3-D</DIV>
<DIV>graphics cards and relatively up-to-date hardware, meaning computers
that</DIV>
<DIV>have been bought in the last 18 months or so, said Mancusi-Ungaro.
</DIV>
<DIV>Jakob Nielsen, a usability expert with Nielsen Norman Group, applauded
the</DIV>
<DIV>transparency and extra desktop features. But he was less impressed with
the</DIV>
<DIV>ability for application windows to be dragged halfway between desktops
and</DIV>
<DIV>viewed in 3-D. He called it "a great way to show off graphical
horsepower</DIV>
<DIV>but basically useless." </DIV>
<DIV>Nielsen said Linux's reputation for having a user interface that's
less</DIV>
<DIV>attractive and harder to use than those in Apple's Mac OS X or
Microsoft's</DIV>
<DIV>Windows is well-earned, and a natural result of its technical heritage.
</DIV>
<DIV>"Linux has always been able to attract great programming talent, but
not as</DIV>
<DIV>many talented usability people," Nielsen said. He noted that it's
often</DIV>
<DIV>difficult in the free-wheeling open-source culture to veto new features
that</DIV>
<DIV>add marginal utility at the cost of increased complexity. "To have a
simple</DIV>
<DIV>unified experience that is good for the average user requires someone
to say</DIV>
<DIV>no," he said. </DIV>
<DIV>The features enabled by XGL throw out a preemptive challenge to the
upcoming</DIV>
<DIV>Windows Vista, which Microsoft is promising will have similar new
features</DIV>
<DIV>and more in its Aero graphical user interface. </DIV>
<DIV>While Microsoft has long suffered from a tendency to overstuff features
at</DIV>
<DIV>the cost of ease of use, said Nielsen, it is "taking a new approach"
with</DIV>
<DIV>Vista. </DIV>
<DIV>Development of XGL is led by David Reveman, a Swedish software
developer</DIV>
<DIV>with notoriously eccentric work habits even by programmers'
standards.</DIV>
<DIV>Reveman works in the top floor of a barn in rural Sweden, according
to</DIV>
<DIV>Wikipedia, with co-workers from Novell flying to the country every two
to</DIV>
<DIV>three months to collect code and post it online. </DIV>
<DIV>The XGL source code is available for download by open-source
programmers at</DIV>
<DIV>Freedesktop.org. The improvements will be available as an option for
users</DIV>
<DIV>installing Version 10 of Novell Linux Desktop, which is due out by
the</DIV>
<DIV>summer, Mancusi-Ungaro said. But because the code is being made
available as</DIV>
<DIV>open-source, he expects XGL to be adopted by other flavors of Linux
such as</DIV>
<DIV>Red Hat or Ubuntu.</DIV>
<DIV></snip></DIV></FONT>
</BODY></HTML>