Got a chance to catch linux world sydney.
Thought id sent across some interesting observations. Indicators of the future... (desktop related features)
Saw Ubuntu Beta of the new Dapper Drake scheduled (delayed a bit) for May/June. The new XGL interfaces ..... http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=401&num=1
One word. WOW. Pictures do not do Justice. Seen an average comp. with an average display card do some pretty amazing effects.
novell desktop also scheduled for June also comes with XGL. Same really cool desktop features. http://www.novell.com/linux/xglrelease/
apparently there is something called "aglx" which the FC team have been working on, which gives the same features... it doesnt come with FC5, but can be put on as I was promised. But did not get a chance to see it yet. for the adventurous, its in extras I believe somewhere...
Gnome 2.6.14 is FAST. Real FAST. Got a chance to met with a few developers, think of this, gnome 2.8 on debian. thats right Debian! uses more than 120-130 mb (64bit port), 2.6.14 takes 80M. (seen this on my own piece, so i can vouch for it.)
in short, future looking good. More WOW factor. Better hardware support.
regards Erle