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In about two weeks SuSE Linux plans to begin selling its enterprise desktop operating system in the United States and Europe.

The product, called SuSE Linux Enterprise Desktop during its development phase, will ship under the name SuSE Linux Desktop and cost $598 for five PCs, the minimum number of licenses that a business can buy, said Holger Dyroff, SuSE's Americas general manager.

For that price businesses receive one year of maintenance for each license, which includes all updates and enhancements for the product. The maintenance period can be extended to five years at a cost of $89 for each of the additional four years. Discounts to this basic pricing structure kick in for high-volume purchases, he said.

Desktop Options

SuSE Linux Desktop joins two other desktop operating systems from SuSE: SuSE Linux, designed for individual users, and SuSE Linux Office Desktop, aimed at small offices.

SuSE Linux Desktop is the company's recommended front end for its SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 8 server operating system, because SuSE Linux Desktop was built to be "perfectly tuned" with it, SuSE said in a statement Monday.

SuSE Linux Desktop is designed for enterprise environments, from small 10-desktop installations to large deployments of over 100,000 PCs installed in multiple locations, according to SuSE.

As such, the operating system has been designed for automated and central administration, maintenance, and deployment via internal functions and external tools.

Software Side

SuSE Linux Desktop comes bundled with Sun Microsystems' StarOffice 6 office suite, but can also run Microsoft Office applications such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint through Codeweavers' CrossOver Office 2. Printing and display compatibility with Microsoft fonts is provided through Agfa Monotype fonts. SuSE Linux Desktop can also run IBM's Lotus Notes through the Codeweavers product.

SuSE Linux Desktop comes with security functions, interfaces to application servers and mainframe systems, and support for a variety of SuSE and third-party system administration tools.

German life insurance company Stuttgarter Lebensversicherung is phasing out IBM's OS/2 desktop operating system and will install SuSE Linux Desktop in about 1300 PCs at over 20 locations in Germany this year, with more PCs in branch offices being migrated next year, said Nuremberg, Germany-based SuSE on Monday.

SuSE announced SuSE Linux Desktop in October 2002 and planned to ship it in this year's first quarter but delayed it until this month.

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