Caldera Network Desktop 1.0

While the information above may sound depressing, I don't really feel that it is. While Joe Average may want to convince his wife that CND is a good buy because it looks like MS Windows, I don't think this is the primary market. If Caldera hired me to be their marketing manager, I would tell them their markets are the office desktop and custom office situations. They don't have to hire me to do this, though, as it appears they already know. For example, they have established Value Added Reseller (VAR) and Independent Software Vendor (ISV) programs.

If I wanted to get Linux into the office market, I could pick a particular segment of the office market (like education, medical office, etc.), develop the packages needed (probably some sort of database), get up to speed installing CND, and start selling a bunch of software.

Better yet, pick some specific hardware and get into the market with a total hardware/software solution. Also, since CND includes commercial NetWare client and administration tools, getting CND on desktops in a Novell-based office makes a lot of sense.

In conclusion, CND is not another Slackware or Red Hat. It is designed for the end-user, “I don't know what a Linux is” market. With one hundred million or more PCs out there, CND has a very good chance to move Linux into new places.