Someone involved with SuSE Linux has posted a bunch of new mock-ups based off usability research done by the Better Desktop project.
Some highlights:
Notification boxes - I've been waiting for something like this ever since I tried Opera. In addition to the examples pictured, it could also use a download monitor thing, a la every web browser but IE.
New menu - Looks a bit like the new Vista menu, though mock-ups of concepts like this have been floating around for years. More info here.
From the looks of things, I'm gonna have to try SuSE again sometime soon…
Watch for the preview release coming up in the next couple weeks.
The mock ups…they were actually captured directly from the screen of a live system that I use every day. It’s slated to be in SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10–which is what I use in right now (pre-release). But it’s really cool, because it’s real code.
–T
Sweet! I didn't realize things were moving forward that quickly.
I'm assuming that since the new menu is "simply" a gnome panel module, other distros will be able to adopt/adapt it?
Yeppers. Novell contributes all of our GNOME innovations back out to the open.
But of course, I still encourage giving SUSE a go.