Xandros Unveils Business Desktop

NEW YORK -- Xandros, which has focused on providing user-friendly versions of Linux to mainstream consumers, is branching out to corporate markets, introducing at LinuxWorld Expo here this week the $129 Business Desktop and an as-yet unpriced Desktop Management Server, the company's first server product.

Though this business entry is a big step for the young company, officials say it is not forgetting its original mission or original target audience. Xandros is still developing and marketing its core Xandros Desktop product, available in both a $39 standard edition and $89 deluxe edition.

Rather, Xandros is moving forward with a two-pronged strategy, says Andy Typaldos, who took over full-time as CEO four months ago. The company aims to create a desktop that is simple and powerful enough for the mainstream consumer, and then bring that ease of use into the business world, both on desktops and in the server room.

The Xandros Approach

The idea that drives Xandros is that Linux can be for everyone. Since its inception in 2001 following the dissolution of Corel's Linux efforts, Xandros has focused on creating a Linux desktop friendly enough for the mainstream consumer.

"You don't join companies; you join ideas," Typaldos says.

Ming Poon, who led Linux development at Corel, became vice president of software development at Xandros and led work on Xandros Desktop 1.0. That product was Corel Linux 3.0 with a new name slapped on it. Xandros Desktop 2.0, released last October, represents a further evolution of that product, and has received many positive reviews within the Linux community.

Product Specs

Xandros now aims to build on its success by bringing its friendlier Linux to the business environment. Xandros Business Desktop features the same KDE-based user interface as Xandros Desktop 2.0, and the same four-click installation process with automatic partitioning and hardware detection. It also provides seamless networking with Windows machines, and drag-and-drop CD burning within the Xandros File Manager. Certain additions focus on networking; for example, Business Desktop supports domain controller logon scripts and access to Active Directory servers.

Poon says Xandros works closely with Codeweavers, the company that drives Wine development. As a result, the Business Desktop contains Wine software that enables users to install Microsoft Office and several other popular Windows applications. Also included in the package, for those who wish to be entirely Microsoft-free, is StarOffice 7, the commercial version of the open-source application suite OpenOffice.org. Spam filtering is also built into the system.

If Xandros Business Desktop is designed to make an office dweller's life easier, then the Desktop Management Server aims to do the same for system administrators. Typaldos says MIS managers familiar with administrating Windows boxes will be able to dive right into the Linux world with Desktop Management Server, which provides a graphical user interface for all sorts of administrative functions. Provisioning, remote management, and localized package management is all included, and you don't have to drop to a command line to do any of it.