On the desktop

I have been using Linux on my desktop since 1997. I found the platform’s features and supporting applications usable back then, and much has changed for the better. Some things which were great back then are still great today.

The most prominent feature in the latter category is multiple virtual desktops. This feature was liberating to me in 1997, and it is indispensable for me today. I understand that some versions of Windows finally have virtual desktops, but I have been told that, for some unfathomable reason, you might need to download software to use them.

I normally work with six virtual desktops enabled (KDE allows you to configure as many as  16, and last I checked, Gnome allows 100). I populate each one with applications relating to a different task. One has a Web browser; another has the applications I use while writing; another has multimedia apps so I can listen to music while I work. If I’m doing extensive word processing, as I did when I was writing my book, I’ll leave my office application up in another desktop. And another desktop will have e-mail.

This last function, e-mail, has come a long way in the past few years. Several e-mail clients have been built over the past few years, but two have emerged as favorites.

For a fairly straightforward, yet feature-rich e-mail client, I like Kmail. Kmail is the default KDE mail client. It’s simple enough so that an average user can quickly feel at home, and has a nice set of options, including IMAP and POP3 support, e-mail filters, and the ability to turn off HTML for incoming messages. It also has optional PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) encoding and multiple language support.

For a more complex e-mail client with support for calendaring, task lists, and contact lists, there is Ximian’s Evolution. The application even features a customizable summary page which can show you local weather reports and news headlines from various sources. People accustomed to Outlook will probably find Evolution comfortable to use. Evolution sports some notable goodies, including virtual folders. Database people might understand this as “views for e-mail.” Instead of using the old paradigm of placing a physical piece of paper (the e-mail) in a physical folder, virtual folders are more like database queries that  select messages based on specified values.

With this feature, you can group messages according to content rather than just placing a message in a single folder. So when you need to find an old e-mail from your boss about the policy change affecting a new project, you no longer need to remember whether you filed it under Boss Memos, Policies, or New Project. With virtual folders, the same message can be located under all three categories. And that can save precious time.

Features such as virtual desktops and solid e-mail clients help to make Linux desktops viable for business. Is there a critical application that you are still waiting for on the Linux desktop? Send me e-mail or log on to my forum and let me know.

Russell Pavlicek is an independent open-source consultant. Contact him at pavlicek@linuxprofessionalsolutions.com. Log on to his forum at www.infoworld.com/os.