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SAN FRANCISCO—What can you expect from this edition of LinuxWorld? Well, not a suggestion from Sun Microsystems Jonathan Schwartz, as some had anticipated, that Sun might buy Novell. But what you can expect is more details on upcoming Linux desktops, servers and databases.
Weve already seen some news from Xandros on its latest business desktop, with its CrossOver Office 3.0.1 support for users who cant leave Windows behind.
The timing couldnt be better for the Linux desktop in some ways, as Windows seems increasing besieged by security concerns and the Longhorn ship date slips farther into the future.
Dan Kusnetzky, IDC vice president for system software research, in a recent report predicted that the Linux desktop would grow from a 2002 market share of 2.7 percent to a 6 percent share with more than 10 million shipments in 2007 in part because of former Windows users seeking a more secure desktop.
Some corporate users may turn to server-based desktops. For those users, Wyse Technology and AMD are partnering to deliver a new, low-end line of Wyse Winterm Linux-based thin-client devices based on the AMD Geode processor.
Sun has also preannounced for the show that it will be bringing Linux to its popular thin-client Sun Ray devices. Novell is also expected to reveal its plans for its “unified” Linux desktop, which will bring together the best of the KDE and Gnome interfaces.
We also can expect to see more server news from the show, which runs Monday through Thursday at San Franciscos Moscone Center. Sources are saying that Novell will announce the next release of its main Linux server, SLES (SuSE Linux Enterprise) 9.0 server. This will be the first release of a major server business Linux running with the 2.6 kernel.
Novell and Dell have already announced that Dell will offer Novells Linux software services to its enterprise customers. In the past, Dell had been a staunch Red Hat partner.
Its not all operating-system news for servers. IBM and Dell will both be showcasing servers based on Intels new Nocona chip.
Red Hats biggest news will be for developers as it announces the RHAS (Red Hat Application Server.) This Java-based, open-source application is built on ObjectWebs JOnAS (Java Open Application Server), which in turn is built from the Apache Software Foundations Tomcat Java server. RHAS, like RHEL (Red Hat Enterprise Linux), will be sold with support on a subscription basis.
On the database side, Computer Associates is showing its support for Novell SLES by announcing the availability of its recently open-sourced Ingres database on that platform.
IBM is also expected to open-source its Java-based Cloudscape DBMS (database management system). Cloudscape, though, is a minor player in the DBMS arena.
LinuxWorld organizers expect about 11,000 attendees and more than a hundred vendors to come to the show.
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