Corel unveils Linux OS for the desktop

Corel has launched its own Linux operating system (OS) after 13 months of research and development work with Red Hat.

The operating system will be available in three versions: free, standard and deluxe. The free version can be downloaded from http://www.corel.com and offers the basic source code while the standard and deluxe versions offer varying levels of WordPerfect and email support.

But Gary Barnett, analyst at Ovum, remains sceptical. "Linux is not going to displace the standard desktop in a hurry and indeed the success of Linux on the server is by no means assured," he said. "The Linux phenomenon is still 80 per cent hype, it's a useful and cheap derivative of Unix and a lot of organisations are seriously considering using it, but it has an awful long way to go before it is the world beater it claims to be."

Barnett claims the OS will flounder without supporting applications. "Ultimately what legitimises an operating system is the available applications that run on it. The more tools and packages available, then the more useful it becomes to the mortal user, but it's still not mainstream," he said.

A Corel spokeswoman agreed in principle, but said Corel has a raft of products scheduled for release next year.

"We've found more and more companies look at Linux and often port their existing products to it. The more companies embrace it and Fortune 500 companies use it the more legitimacy it gains," she said.

But companies are not going to embrace it, warned Ashim Pal, analyst at Meta Group.
"Linux is kind of interesting from an academic level, but looking at it practically, most companies won't deploy a product with that low level of support. I understand why Corel have released this product, but when it boils down to it, Linux is just another Unix," he said.

However, Ovum's Barnett predicted Corel will have more success with Linux than with its Java efforts. Corel sold its Java unit to Graphon after the company abandoned its products following two years of development - two weeks later it signed an agreement with Red Hat.

"Corel's patchy record does not inspire confidence. But Red Hat has an established business so Corel is not breaking new ground. The problem with its Java office products was that the market was not yet ready but it is ready with Linux," said Barnett.

Explaining Corel's mistakes with its Java development, the spokeswoman said: "We learnt not to put all our eggs in one basket and rely on one company to push it forward. When Sun did not meet a lot of our expectations and missed a lot of their own deadlines it trickled down the line and affected us. The market wasn't mature enough but the extension of that to our situation with Linux is that we are now working with the whole open source community and other major companies - it's a group effort."