Comment A response from Corel (Score 1) 104
I'd like to respond to some of the issues raised here regarding Corel's entry into the Linux distro market. In some cases I've taken quotes from other postings and in other cases I've summarized many concerns into one question.
Is Corel going to produce a "proprietary" distro?
Not a chance. The distro development team here has been part of the Linux Open source community for quite a while and recognizes how impractical and unsuccessful that strategy would be. You can expect our distribution to be highly compatible with existing distros.
Corel will produce WordPerfect to run only on Corel's distro?
One of our prime directives at Corel is that applications aren't tied to operating systems so you can be sure that we'll continue to try to make WP and other Corel products compatible with as many distros as is practical.
Will Corel support the StrongARM (NetWinder) architecture?
Our first priority is x86 but support for the NetWinder is expected to follow.
Is Corel fragmenting the market?
Actually, we feel we're helping to bring it together. By putting resources into developing the Linux desktop and building a distribution that doesn't diverge from current distros, we hope to add momentum to the Linux groundswell.
What desktop are you going to choose? KDE or GNOME?
I think there have been enough flame wars on this topic. I'm going to sidestep that for the moment and say that we're evaluating each GUI on its own merits and will make a choice that's appropriate for our Linux strategy. (OK, I admit that sounded pretty darn evasive).
Why would Corel want to make Linux more like Windows?
No question this a touchy subject with some in the Linux commmunity... Here's my best shot at explaining what we're trying to do. There have almost always been complaints about the various incarnations of Windows - some more extreme than others. However, I would hope most people can agree that Windows 95 (for example) provides some features that are appropriate for the people who are expected to use it. Just as the Mac OS led the way in making computers easy to use for non-technical users, Win95 is generally easy to use for your average business or home user. The UI is generally predictable and consistent and it's pretty good at dealing with the average user's hardware. It sometimes has infuriating crashes, and frustrating error messages, and a proprietary code base, but there are a lot of people out there who aren't affected much by those problems. While this is certainly a debate that can go on for years, I'd simply like to acknowledge that, like it or not, Windows has some good features. Let's learn from what they've done right (and wrong) and get it right on Linux. If you agree we need a desktop on Linux, then the world is going to expect it to be similar to (though not necessarily exactly the same as) Windows, Macintosh and other GUI OS environments.
"And Red Hat and Corel shall lead us all..." ?
Well, thanks for the compliment but that's not exactly how I see it. Corel's experience with Windows application programming has certainly given us the ability to constructively contribute to the WINE project (we're part of this collaborative project) and our experience in GUI environments should serve us equally well in contributing to the open source development of a killer desktop for Linux. If we can provide some leadership in these areas, then we're strengthening Linux as a whole and our position as a key vendor. Finally, our position in the retail market should help us lead Linux into distribution avenues it hasn't previously reached. So, in some ways, Corel can be a leader. But Linux, by it's very nature, defies dominant leadership. It's the extraordinary group of developers worldwide who have made Linux what it is today and who will take it to where it goes in the future. We're part of that community and will lead where we can, but ultimately the leadership will go to whoever the Linux community chooses to follow.
Will Corel "waste effort duplicating stuff better done by people with years of experience"?
Good question. No, we won't. We're not going to re-write the kernel or write a Web server from scratch. Those things are already taken care of. We don't want to re-create the wheel and, quite frankly, couldn't possibly expect to duplicate Linux in any kind of reasonable time frame. What we hope to contribute to development is our expertise in the areas of Windows (WINE), GUI design (desktop), and ease of use (install and desktop). Finally, we'll provide even wider distribution for the world's best operating system. We're doing what we do best and leaving the rest to what others do better.
I hope I've shed some light on what we're doing and why. We're not ready to announce a lot of detail right now but as we move further in the
development cycle, you'll hear more. While Corel is in business to make money and it is understandable that believers in OSS development might be skeptical, I hope time will show that we're conscientious members of the Open-Source community. We want to keep our initiatives for the operating system in sync with other users and developers (like the group here on Slashdot). We hope our development benefits the majority of the Linux community. I think it's unlikely we could succeed if we took any other approach.
Erich Forler
Product Development Manager
Corel Desktop Linux
Is Corel going to produce a "proprietary" distro?
Not a chance. The distro development team here has been part of the Linux Open source community for quite a while and recognizes how impractical and unsuccessful that strategy would be. You can expect our distribution to be highly compatible with existing distros.
Corel will produce WordPerfect to run only on Corel's distro?
One of our prime directives at Corel is that applications aren't tied to operating systems so you can be sure that we'll continue to try to make WP and other Corel products compatible with as many distros as is practical.
Will Corel support the StrongARM (NetWinder) architecture?
Our first priority is x86 but support for the NetWinder is expected to follow.
Is Corel fragmenting the market?
Actually, we feel we're helping to bring it together. By putting resources into developing the Linux desktop and building a distribution that doesn't diverge from current distros, we hope to add momentum to the Linux groundswell.
What desktop are you going to choose? KDE or GNOME?
I think there have been enough flame wars on this topic. I'm going to sidestep that for the moment and say that we're evaluating each GUI on its own merits and will make a choice that's appropriate for our Linux strategy. (OK, I admit that sounded pretty darn evasive).
Why would Corel want to make Linux more like Windows?
No question this a touchy subject with some in the Linux commmunity... Here's my best shot at explaining what we're trying to do. There have almost always been complaints about the various incarnations of Windows - some more extreme than others. However, I would hope most people can agree that Windows 95 (for example) provides some features that are appropriate for the people who are expected to use it. Just as the Mac OS led the way in making computers easy to use for non-technical users, Win95 is generally easy to use for your average business or home user. The UI is generally predictable and consistent and it's pretty good at dealing with the average user's hardware. It sometimes has infuriating crashes, and frustrating error messages, and a proprietary code base, but there are a lot of people out there who aren't affected much by those problems. While this is certainly a debate that can go on for years, I'd simply like to acknowledge that, like it or not, Windows has some good features. Let's learn from what they've done right (and wrong) and get it right on Linux. If you agree we need a desktop on Linux, then the world is going to expect it to be similar to (though not necessarily exactly the same as) Windows, Macintosh and other GUI OS environments.
"And Red Hat and Corel shall lead us all..." ?
Well, thanks for the compliment but that's not exactly how I see it. Corel's experience with Windows application programming has certainly given us the ability to constructively contribute to the WINE project (we're part of this collaborative project) and our experience in GUI environments should serve us equally well in contributing to the open source development of a killer desktop for Linux. If we can provide some leadership in these areas, then we're strengthening Linux as a whole and our position as a key vendor. Finally, our position in the retail market should help us lead Linux into distribution avenues it hasn't previously reached. So, in some ways, Corel can be a leader. But Linux, by it's very nature, defies dominant leadership. It's the extraordinary group of developers worldwide who have made Linux what it is today and who will take it to where it goes in the future. We're part of that community and will lead where we can, but ultimately the leadership will go to whoever the Linux community chooses to follow.
Will Corel "waste effort duplicating stuff better done by people with years of experience"?
Good question. No, we won't. We're not going to re-write the kernel or write a Web server from scratch. Those things are already taken care of. We don't want to re-create the wheel and, quite frankly, couldn't possibly expect to duplicate Linux in any kind of reasonable time frame. What we hope to contribute to development is our expertise in the areas of Windows (WINE), GUI design (desktop), and ease of use (install and desktop). Finally, we'll provide even wider distribution for the world's best operating system. We're doing what we do best and leaving the rest to what others do better.
I hope I've shed some light on what we're doing and why. We're not ready to announce a lot of detail right now but as we move further in the
development cycle, you'll hear more. While Corel is in business to make money and it is understandable that believers in OSS development might be skeptical, I hope time will show that we're conscientious members of the Open-Source community. We want to keep our initiatives for the operating system in sync with other users and developers (like the group here on Slashdot). We hope our development benefits the majority of the Linux community. I think it's unlikely we could succeed if we took any other approach.
Erich Forler
Product Development Manager
Corel Desktop Linux
