HP sees Linux desktop nearing critical mass

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Mar. 09, 2007

Analysis -- The good news, according to an HP executive, is that the company sees "the Linux desktop nearing critical mass." The bad news, for would be off-the-shelf Linux desktop buyers, is that it's still not there yet.

Doug Small, HP's worldwide director of open source and Linux marketing, explained that while "the number of indicators we look at -- the noise level, the interest in the products on the market, the interest in our forums -- are all tending to heat up for Linux during the last six months or so." However, "It's still not been enough to get a pre-configured Linux desktop or laptop on the price list."

An earlier interview by Small had led to a great deal of buzz that HP was going to release a mainstream Linux PC before Dell released such a system. Unfortunately, that's not really the case. According to Small, the problem seems to be that "most of the serious interest we're seeing in the Linux desktop is coming from enterprises," and most of those from ourside the U.S. and North American markets. For example, Small said that a Chinese company recently awarded HP a contract for several thousand laptops pre-loaded with Novell's SLED (SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop) 10. "We have a large deal in India working with a supply chain customer," he added.

It's not that HP doesn't hear from personal and SMB (small- to medium-sized business) users about a Linux desktop. "The noise level has been growing there, too," said Small. "On the Web sites, we are seeing a significant increase in number of Linux questions on how to integrate desktops and laptops." It's just that the interest level isn't as high in those markets as it is in the enterprise, he explained.

HP has responded to this interest by certifying more of its systems with Linux. The company has some of its desktops and laptops certified with Red Hat, Novell SUSE, TurboLinux, and Mandriva. In addition, HP supports Debian on its HP t5725 Thin Client. Like many vendors, HP also supports Linux on a workstation line. Currently, HP supports both RHEL (Red Hat Enterprise Linux) and SLED on its "xw" series Intel Xeon Pentium 4 and AMD Opteron workstations.

While Red Hat does have offerings, Small said, "A lot of the work in the last six months has been with Novell SLED." Small added that while "any customer can ask for custom work -- a particular software load, a Linux distribution -- such preconfigured items are really only for enterprises that want multiple thousands of units. An SMB customer would do best to look for our certified systems; and we can help them find one a VAR (value-added reseller) or system integrator who's been certified with both our hardware and the Linux distribution, to buy a smaller number of pre-configured Linux desktops."

So, to sum it up, HP is noting increased interest in the Linux desktop; and it's more than happy to help big businesses with desktop systems directly, or SMBs through its channel partners. But the company doesn't see a mainstream launch of a Linux desktop in the immediate future. If interest continues to rise in the Linux desktop, HP would be more than happy to start shipping a preconfigured, pre-loaded Linux desktop system. At this point, however, they're not prepared to supply a system for which there isn't enough demand.

-- Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols

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Use of this site is governed by our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Except where otherwise specified, the contents of this site are copyright © 1999-2009 Ziff Davis Enterprise Holdings Inc. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of Ziff Davis Enterprise is prohibited. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. All other marks are the property of their respective owners.