SUSE 11 vs Windows 7: no contest

Sam Varghese
Monday, 30 March 2009 06:33

Opinion and Analysis

In other words, what's the difference between golden handcuffs and silver handcuffs? Remember, SUSE Linux 11 isn't something you can download off the net and run free - you have to pay for the full enterprise version. The cost may be less but remember that Windows is a known devil.


There are a couple of questions which one needs to ask of Novell - if interoperability was really going to help SUSE gain desktop marketshare would Microsoft stand by and watch its own turf being invaded?

And if interoperability is not the silver bullet which Novell desperately seeks, what does the company then do?

It has lost all credibility with the free software community. It has lost all credibility with the open source crowd.

Any Linux distribution which aims for the desktop has to compete only with Windows. And the new competitor is going to be Windows 7. You won't find too many people who use Macs lining up to switch to Linux.

Windows XP is being slowly pushed out by Microsoft - it has to, else all the money spent on Window 7 will be in vain.

It's doubtful whether the company can survive a second disaster like Vista - and the word disaster is probably a mild description of the world's greatest technological fiasco.

Would Microsoft allow Novell to compete on the desktop unless it knew that it was a no-contest? You know the answer to that one, gentle reader.