Novell Makes Linux Desktop 10 Presentation

Novell showed off the next release of its Linux Desktop 10 yesterday, in a keynote presentation at the Solutions Linux conference and trade show in Paris. Version 10 is not yet available, but Nat Friedman, vice president of Linux desktop engineering, made a demonstration of Novell Linux Desktop 10 playing videos and MP3 music files.

Due to asinine "IP" policies, patents on the mp3 format are owned by Thompson multimedia and Fraunhofer Gesellschaft. They make millions of euros each year from licensing fees and obviously, free software (as in free beer) developers can't afford to pay. As a result, free Linux distributions don't normally come with the capability to play mp3 files.

Novell has licensed the patents and develops its own mp3 player software - Banshee. The software will be released under an open-source license, although not the GPL, Friedman said. He demonstrated the software by connecting an iPod to his laptop. Banshee recognized the device, added the music it contained to the playlist and allowed him to play one of the tracks. "Now we have a legal way to do this for free that's open source."

Another demonstration was of an open-source graphics subsystem, XGL, the development of which has been supported by Novell since hiring David Reveman last year. The code will be available next week, Friedman added.