Xandros today launched Xandros Server Standard Edition 2, a complete, enterprise-grade SMB Linux server package including Xen virtualization and more than 30 other services. The new Xandros Linux server is compatible with existing Windows domain and networking topologies.
I must test this out. I was impressed by the first version of Xandros server. But there were a few things that just would not allow me to use them in my Windows network or replace Windows servers.
Will give everyone an update.
Xandros is a more than decent distribution based on Debian Stable. That means that Desktop 4.1 is based on Sarge: too old, IMO, even if much of what matters most has been updated to more recent versions.
This release is based on Etch, thus pretty much bleeding edge.
I don’t know how suitable it would be as a Desktop OS, but definitely its price is a (major) issue.
I feel if I can replace my Windows SBS with it then it’s worth the price.
The problem is version 1 could not replace SBS. And would not even be a robust file server.
We will see how version 2 goes. Soon as a trial comes out I want to download it and test it in my Windows XP and Vista test lab.
I appreciate that, but my point was its possible use as a Desktop OS, in which case it would definitely be too expensive.
On the other hand, as a sever OS one could use CentOS or any other RHEL clone, and the price is definitely right
Edited 2007-05-08 21:01
On the other hand, as a sever OS one could use CentOS or any other RHEL clone, and the price is definitely right
Don’t get your hopes up about RHEL. It might be the market leader and it might be what an awful lot of software is designed for, but it is by no means perfect in any way shape or form, and after using both RHEL and in its CentOS form it is shockingly deficient in many areas. Red Hat has spent more time fannying about with what they develop with than they have producing anything useful. One sentence from the article details how much Xandros actually understand what is required from a server OS these days:
“Windows server administrators can even manage Windows and Xandros servers side-by-side using the Xandros server management console on Windows (xMC for Windows). We also provide Windows administrators with a graphical migration tool to easily move their NT and Windows 2000 servers to the new Xandros Linux server.”
Quality graphical tools – which no Linux distribution currently has, and not only that, they actually provide you with tools to easily migrate from the competition. Fancy that!
The problem is, Xandros’ market and usage of their management console is so small that they have little chance of making too much money from it. I just wish they would let their proprietary instincts go, open source their management console and their graphical tools, let others pick them up and use them and let them become well known. Just like Red Hat, the people who want to pay for a commercially supported distribution will still do so, so they’re not losing anything.
Why try to use a server-oriented distribution as a desktop OS? Because it has more recent components?
Then why not try the free Xandros OCE 4.1 edition which is geared to the desktop? It’s officially been released only through some magazine-included DVDs. But it’s been made available by at least one user via DVD iso download and torrent. See the Xandros forums for details.
http://forums.xandros.com/
and select the “Open Circulation Edition Help” forum.
I haven’t tried it myself – you might want to read people’s reactions in the forum first.
Thanks. In fact I have already tried it. As I said, it is based on Debian Sarge, and that is really old now
Sorry, didn’t read your original post carefully enough.
Xanrdos has kinda rubbed me the wrong way. It seems like they were more than happy to leech off an existing code base, but when it came to their proprietary file manager, they weren’t willing to share that code. On top of that, they charged for it when everyone else was giving away their distro. Finally, they released a crippled version for free. I downloaded it, but got shy when it looked like it was going to clobber my whole hard drive. So, I never installed it.
Even if I were willing to pay for a distro, which I am and have done, I would not pay for it site unseen. Also, at the pace Linux changes, I didn’t want to pay for something that I might not stick with.
Too many reasons for me to pass. And, I think this is true for many others. Has their window of opportunity has closed? For me it has.