Of course Windows is our most common desktop. But others options are developing rapidly. ZENworks continues to evolve for more than a decade and some add-ons include SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop SLES and Ximinan RedCarpet added to ZENworks along with the addition of PatchLink. So there will be a lot more automation tools for managing our desktop computers. And here is Novell's Patch Management and following Novell's previous efforts, you will continue to see major improvements in cross-platforms.
ZENworks has been winning awards since 1998 and still by far the best of breed for desktop management. ZEN is best for saving time (and therefore money) on workstation management AND you can use it on Microsoft servers/networks - that's right you don't need a Netware file server to use ZENworks. It all started with workstation management and now Novell has added server and network management.
If you need ammo in the fight against worm emails and are a ZENworks for Desktops user, check it out! He explains how you can use ZEN to deliver a lockdown which turns off the Windows Scripting Host. To find out more about Zenworks see these articles:
Many of us use Netscape, Mozilla, FireFox, even Opera and GroupWise and try to keep IE and OutLook off our workstations (removing OutLook and IE after software installs/updates is SOP for me). During the last 6 years I have only 3 workstations get virus infections (I Love You), and all had IE and OutLook Express installed - so keeping IE and OutLook off your workstations isn't easy. Every MS product (and many patches) re-installs IE and OutLook (and each new user on NT4/5 gets these products re-installed unless you actually DELETE the software directory off the local hard drive). To delete from NT5(W2K) use ZEN imaging and delete the files from your workstation basic image - now your re-imaged workstations won't have those programs - powerful stuff.