“Linux is now well established as a potential operating system
selection for servers with specific requirements, such as Web page
serving, e-mail forwarding etc. However when it comes to the
desktop market there have been several factors hindering any
large-scale deployment to the ‘mass’ user base. Amongst these
inhibitors are the technological challenges of support for user
applications, performance, stability, hardware platform coverage
and user interface availability. A couple of recent
announcements illustrate that things might be finally moving
forward.”
“The arcane Unix like command line functionality of the Linux
operating system cannot be said to be ‘user friendly’. The average
man on the street might even call it hostile. Up until now you have
required a reasonably strong IT background to be able to use Linux
at all. Even with such a background carrying out everyday tasks can
be complex. Whatever your opinion of the Windows family of products
may be, they together with the Mac Operating Systems have allowed
many non-computer people to use PCs for everyday tasks with some
confidence.”
“In order to address these usability problems US company Eazel
was set up in the autumn of 1999 with the expressed aim ‘to make
Linux the desktop of choice’. Eazel have created a file system
product named Nautilus to make Linux safe for the desktop, a
development which up until now has always been just around the
corner. A very long, winding corner. Nautilus runs on top of the
GNOME GUI and will be incorporated into the default Red Hat Linux
distribution. Early demonstrations of the tool have given glimpses
of a system that has the potential to take Linux onto the desktop
in large numbers by providing the simple point and click
functionality expected of a operating system to be used by simple,
ordinary users. A further enhancement can be found when logging
onto the Net; the Nautilus web browser (built around Mozilla’s
Gecko) can be notified by Eazel of any installed programs for which
updates are available on and offering the ability to install any of
them with the click of a button. As you can imagine this assistance
in the rapidly evolving open-source environment would be of value
to any user.”