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Red Hat to Enter the Desktop Market

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the hat-into-the-ring dept.

head_dunce writes "It looks like Red Hat is going to release their Global Desktop Linux in September and give Ubuntu a challenge for the Linux desktop market. Red Hat Global Desktop 'would be sold with a one-year subscription to security updates.'" It looks like another choice for the proverbial Aunt Tillie. The release is being delayed in order to provide greater media compatibility, "to permit users to view a wide range of video formats on their computers."

6 of 250 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Beyond the average user by Constantine+XVI · · Score: 4, Informative

    Don't know if you've used 7.04 (Feisty) yet, but they've made codec installation as simple as:
    1) Attempt to play file
    2) codec-buddy pops up and tells you what you need to install
    3) Press OK, read applicable legal crap
    4) Type in your password to install the software
    5) Go!

    --
    "I think an etch-a-sketch with an ethernet port would beat IE7 in web standards compliance."
  2. Re:More choice by KingSkippus · · Score: 4, Informative

    Well, that's true, but I also think that part of the problem is people who create packages that don't understand how to use RPM. I can't tell you how many times I've seen installation instructions that include things like "use --force to bypass the version checking..."

    Of course, then we get into how complicated RPM is for normal software developers to use. I mean, just because I write awesome nifty C++ code doesn't mean I'm an expert in RPM. (Nor should it, really.)

    What we need is a way for installation configuration to be simplified both for end users and developers. I can't tell you how many times I've churned out some widget to do something and ended up spending more time tweaking installation packages than I did on writing the thing it was installing.

  3. "LTS" is Long Term Support. by khasim · · Score: 3, Informative

    It's from Ubuntu.

    You can pay for per-incident support from Canonical. Or you can purchase a support contract from them.

    Either way, it's as good as what Red Hat is offering ... or better. And it's already established. And it's a very popular desktop distribution.

  4. Re:"LTS" is Linux Terminal Server by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    I've never heard of Linux Terminal Server, but Ubuntu definitely uses "LTS" to mean "Long Term Support." From their site, "The 'LTS' version of Ubuntu receives long-term support. 3 years for desktop versions and 5 years for server versions."

  5. Re:All I want in a linux distro is... by BlueParrot · · Score: 3, Informative

    A linux distro where I can download an ISO and install from that ISO and get a version of ffmpeg and friend that doesn't have 90% of the media formats disabled.
    Ubuntu Feisty Fawn gets pretty much as close as is possible within legal limits. From the documentation:

    Click Applications Add/Remove. In the top right, change the setting to All available applications. Then select Other in the left panel and then select the Ubuntu restricted extras package. Click OK.
    This will install a whole lot of crap that is restricted by software patents (mp3 support etc ), or stuff that isn't completely free ( like Flash and Sun Java ). Unfortunately it isn't possible for the distros to have this installed by default because the US patent and copyright system is completely broken.
  6. Re:A day late and a dollar short. by VON-MAN · · Score: 3, Informative

    Red Hat developers made almost half of the kernel patches? Well, that's stretching it a bit.

    Luckily, Jonathan Corbet did two excellent pieces on this matter on LWN:http://lwn.net/Articles/222773/ and http://lwn.net/Articles/224244/. These show that Red Hat is there in the top with Intel, IBM, Novell and the Linux Foundation. FYI