Looks like Novell's got some good ideas in their new release of their SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop (SLED). If you're interested in Linux on the desktop (and in particular Gnome), check out some of the screenshots. They also have some videos.
One of the biggest improvements seems to be the "start menu" (labeled "computer" in SLED 10). It's greatly improved over Windows start menu. Their layout makes it more of a palette of tools.
They've included some slick 3D rendering features as well as other graphical improvements over most other Linux distributions. They've improved Alt+Tabbing, but they've also added an "Expose" like window switcher. The zooming features handy, especially for GUI/Web Developers. Check out the Visual Workspace video to see the goods.
It looks like it's a solid release. Don't know how competitive it'll be against Windows and OS X, but its visual features certainly put it far ahead of the average Linux Desktop.
Meh! Just grab the dev copy of OS X for Intel. It's bettar. :P
Posted by: Gabe at March 27, 2006 12:17 PMI thought it would only be a matter of time, but a quick Google search for "os x intel dev" brought up a few how-tos.
I might just have to give that a try or wait a few more months until Apple takes advantage of the latest Vista slowdown and comes out with an official x86 copy. 8o)
Only time will tell.
Posted by: Benjamin at March 27, 2006 12:53 PM