Home : Desktop Software : Analysis & Insight

The lost world of the Xandros desktop

The latest release of the Xandros Linux desktop edition was in June 2006, which is several lifetimes in the history of Linux. Is this the end of the line for the Xandros desktop?

By Richard Hillesley, 20 Apr 2010 at 11:49

gallery

Xandros is based, like Ubuntu, on Debian GNU/Linux, the ultimate community distribution of Linux, but lives by a very different ethos.

Xandros has moved at its own pace, offering solutions from desktop to server, with the objective of "selling Linux into a Windows world."

There was a short-lived community edition of Xandros, but for the most part Xandros has given the impression of keeping itself to itself, concentrating on its partnerships and enterprise sales, selling a boxed edition based on ageing but stable versions of Debian, and cranking up EOM deals with the likes of Asus - remaining on the sidelines of the Linux world, all but imperceptible to Linux users, except when it has broken ranks, to appear on the Asus Eee PC or to sign an unfriendly 'patent covenant' with Microsoft.

The distribution is 'Windows-like', neatly configured, easy to use and popular with its own particular band of devotees, but contains proprietary extensions and an all but moribund release cycle.

The 'patent covenant' with Microsoft has had a detrimental effect on Xandros' ongoing relationships with the Linux user and developer communities. Ostensibly the purpose of the deal with Microsoft was to licence protocols to enable Xandros' BridgeWays and Scalix products to work with Microsoft networks.

The long term effect is the appearance of credibility it has leaned to Microsoft's often re-iterated, never substantiated, and highly contentious, claims of patent infringements in the Linux kernel.

As an avowedly commercial desktop distribution the primary market for Xandros has been the OEM market for desktop users, a market that has been locked by exclusionary contracts with Microsoft for Windows and the dependence of commercial users on Windows applications.

Xandros tried to imprint a traditional software sales model on GNU/Linux, which hasn't really worked, despite the cost and efficiency advantages of GNU/Linux for commercial users, so the company has looked instead towards the mobile and netbook market, where it has found some success.

Still the common perception that Xandros stands apart from other Linux distributions has not been helped statements like that of Jordan Smith, product marketing manager for OEM solutions at Xandros, who has said: "We are kind of getting away from being a Linux company, and we are more interested in presenting a user experience. Users don't care about Linux."

Significantly, Xandros now places more emphasis on BridgeWays and Scalix than it does on its Linux solutions, suggesting a long term switch away from the Linux desktop to turnkey OEM and networking solutions, which means putting Linux on smartbooks and other mobile devices.

Corel Island

Xandros has been with us since August 2001, when it sprang from the ashes of Corel Linux, which had its own chequered history.

Between 1996 and 1998. Corel - founded in 1985 and battered by competition in its key markets by Microsoft - had accumulated losses of $265 million.

1 2 3 4

Email to a friend

Print this page

< Previous Desktop Software : Analysis & Insight Next >

3 comments

You need to Login or Register to comment.

carlleigh

The version of Xandros I'm using is Version Eee PC 1.6.0.104. Build 2008-06-17 so your version information from 2006 is a little out of date.

I've been both very happy with the Eee PC version and very unhappy. Happy because its quite stable. I can do everything I need to do. For example. I can run Flighgear and get 14 frames per second. 800x600 box 1024*600 screen. (Ubunut 10.04) 3 frames per second.

Unhappy because they took so long to get the repository to work in any reasonable way. Very poor support.

I would upgrade to a more current version if it were available at a reasonable cost. (Xandros loss).

Frankly I don't see Xandros going anywhere. They purchased Linspire/Freespire/CNR and haven't really done anything with something that was brilliant in its time. My opinion is that Xandros is a good friend with Microsoft and Xandros goal is to divert attention from other good Linux desktop OS's. Be an example of a top Linux company on the desktop and obviously fail in comparison to Microsoft.

Can it be said that there are to many Linux distros. Normally I would say no! But when they seem to be working for Microsoft and against the Linux all I can say is please die!

By carlleigh on Wednesday Apr 21

Xandros Frustrations

I still run Xandros on one of the original Asus eee PCs. Beneath the surface, all Linux distros are very similar, and Xandros is just one more. However, I was really frustrated by bugs in the network configuration utility and was double frustrated to discover that it used proprietary programs with no source code access and thus no chance to patch. Ended up writing my own configuration utility which I use on other systems as well.

While the original Xandros interface garnered a lot of criticism as being too much like a toy computer interface, I discovered that for non-computer types (which excludes anyone who is familiar with MS Windows), it actually worked well.

By softdrat on Thursday Apr 22

I'm posting from my second eeepc

With the PC900, I had to wait a couple of endless, frustrating months before I dumped the 'computer appliance' 'fun' Xandros desktop for Kubuntu.

My second eeepc came with XP home... I booted it once to verify operation and promptly installed Kubuntu. I'm posting this via a remote control to my Kubuntu desktop (it's where the mail client is) I'm very happy with it.

A netbook desktop is enough like a conventional computer that one basically expects it to act like one. A "fun" interface with tabs and real big icons might work well for people inexperienced on any computer, but how many of those are left?

Actually, I set up one of my roommates on my old PC900 who isn't particularly computer experienced. I only hear from her when there's a problem, which is rare on a properly setup Kubuntu netbook.

A netbook that only has a few apps available for installation (my SMARTPHONE has far more)... I do a lot more with a netbook than websurf and light word processing.

By alizard on Friday Apr 23