"OSDL is committed to accelerating use of Linux on desktop computers in the enterprise," said Tim Witham, CTO of OSDL. "We're fostering an open forum where IT vendors, IT managers, and the Linux development community can discuss and define the capabilities required in future Linux desktops. We invite the Linux community and the rest of the industry to participate."
"The OSDL Desktop Linux Working Group (DTL Group) found that Linux operating system adoption in the enterprise is directly tied to the number of [independent software vendors] applications available for Linux" said J. Craig Manning, senior manager, IT for Cisco and chair of the Desktop Linux Working Group steering committee. "We are releasing the first version of the capabilities document to support an open process to solicit feedback on capabilities which we will incorporate into our future work."
The purpose of this document is to provide an external snapshot of the work in progress to allow feedback from interested parties. When complete these capability descriptions will be used to evaluate the actual state of the Linux desktop. Gaps and difficiencies will be documented and expressed as use cases which can be used as reference for open source development projects to come up with solutions.
However, the Desktop Linux Capabilities document is necessarily forward-looking and describes capabilities, which may or may not be present, or may not be fully developed on any current system. For this reason the capabilities document should not be regarded as any form of desktop specification that can be used to evaluate a current desktop implementation, rather it captures the needs of the enterprise.
Together with industry leaders, independent software vendors and end-users, the DTL group identifies Linux capabilities required to address a range of enterprise desktop usage models. Each of the capabilities listed within this document has been analyzed for applicability to these Desktop Linux models.
This document is neccessarily forward looking and describes capabilities which are not present, or may not fully developped on any current system. For this reason this document should not be regarded as any form of desktop specification which can be used to evaluate a current desktop implementation.
Companies that have pledged their support of the Desktop Linux Capabilities document include AMD, Novell and Red Hat.
"We are seeing widespread worldwide demand for Linux based desktop and client systems," said Michael Evans, VP of Partner Development at Red Hat, "We believe efforts like OSDL DTL that can help gather end user and market input for capabilities in future Desktop Linux versions can be very helpful to the overall market".
Joe Menard, corporate vice president, Software Strategy and Alliances for AMD said the company "supports the Desktop Linux Capabilities document and encourages our enterprise Linux customers and ISV partners to review the document and provide feedback."
"Novell's support for the OSDL Desktop Linux working group effort further demonstrates our focus on the needs of enterprise customers who are increasingly looking at Linux as a viable desktop choice," said Alan Nugent, chief technology officer of Novell. "We will continue to work closely with the Linux community as the Linux desktop matures."
