[Am-info] OPENING THE DESKTOP

[Fred A. Miller]

OPENING THE DESKTOP

Posted May 10, 2002 01:01 PM  Pacific Time


I NORMALLY DON'T like to write about open-source
efforts until they are fairly mature, but some ideas
are just too good to ignore.

One such effort is the newly announced OpenCD Project (
http://www.theopencd.org ). Its concept is very
simple, so simple in fact that if the current team
fails to follow through on it, I have no doubt that
someone else will.

The first premise of the OpenCD project is to deliver a
number of mature, useful, open-source desktop
solutions on a single CD. Now that is hardly unique,
but the second premise may be: The goal is to run on
Windows and perhaps Mac OS.

Key to this project is the fact that many pieces of
open-source software already run on other platforms.
Central applications are expected to include
OpenOffice, Mozilla, the GIMP, and AbiWord.

Part of this effort is spurred by the recent milestones
of many of these applications. OpenOffice, an
extensive open-source office suite, just announced the
release of Version 1.0. Mozilla, the open-source
browser born from Netscape in 1999, recently announced
the first release candidate for its impending Version
1.0. AbiWord, a word processor, is rapidly approaching
Version 1.0, and the GIMP (the GNU Image Manipulation
Project), a Photoshop-like application, is currently
at stable Release 1.2.3.

The project intends to identify other candidates for
inclusion on the CD. Ensuing efforts will ensure that
each piece of software can be installed and
deinstalled quickly and easily by a typical PC user.

Why is this project so important? The concern that
keeps most offices from migrating to open-source
desktops centers on the applications. Businesses often
rely on proprietary solutions such as Microsoft
Office, which are not available on Linux (unless you
are using a product such as CrossOver Office to run
native Windows applications on Linux). The thought of
changing over both operating system and applications
can be intimidating.

But what would happen if businesses could try
open-source desktop applications easily, without
changing operating systems? If they could easily
install and deinstall these applications on their
current desktop machines, they could test the
applications at will. They may even find that they can
run their businesses using some of these applications
instead of the proprietary applications currently
gracing their desktops.

A CD that lets businesses, schools, and consumers use
open-source applications on their existing systems
without fear, fuss, or cost? Now that's an idea worth supporting.

If you want to help out, visit the OpenCD Web site and
get on their mailing list. But if you can't wait,
remember that all the applications I've mentioned are
already available for download from a number of Web
sites, as well as the InfoWorld Open Source forum (
http://www.infoworld.com/os ).

Would you try an open-source application on your
Windows PC or Mac? Let us know in the forum, or tell
Russ at pavlicek@linuxprofessionalsolutions.com.


-- 
Fred A. Miller
Systems Administrator
Cornell Univ. Press Services
fm@cupserv.org, www.cupserv.org
--- SuSE Linux v8.0 Pro---