What do you want to hear from Dell about its Linux plans?

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Aug. 03, 2007

In an unusual move, Dell is asking its users what they want Dell CTO Kevin Kettler to talk about at next week's LinuxWorld trade show at San Francisco's Moscone Center.

Matt Domsch, Dell's Linux technology strategist, announced the invitation in a blog (Crowd-Sourcing the Discussion@LinuxWorld) posting on Dell's Direct2Dell Wiki. Domsch wrote, "As part of our activities there, Kevin Kettler, our Chief Technology Officer will deliver a keynote on Wednesday, Aug. 8 [actually Kettler will be making his keynote on Tuesday, Aug. 7 between 1:30-2:30 p.m.] To augment his keynote, we are asking the Linux community to vote on five potential topics over on the Lightning Rod section of IdeaStorm.

The choices being put up to a vote are: 1) Future of Linux on the Desktop; 2) Linux for Virtualization on the Desktop; 3) Linux for Application Development; 4) Linux for Thin-Client Computing; and 5) Linux for Enterprise Server Virtualization. Would-be voters have until the end of today, Aug. 3, to make their voices heard.

So far, the winner by a landslide is the future of Linux on the desktop. The second choice, though, appears to be a real dog fight between Linux virtualization on the desktop and Linux for application development with, as this story was being written, fewer than 20 votes separating the two topics.

The plan is that Kettler will address the top two topics. The others won't be given short shrift. They will be addressed in Direct2Dell updates by Domsch during LinuxWorld.

For more details on Dell's LinuxWorld plans, Domsch will be updating the Dell's LinuxWorld wiki page.

On a purely amusing note, Dell, thanks to its recent jump into the Linux desktop, will be one side in the Golden Penguin Bowl against representatives of older Linux hardware companies in a battle of wits for Penguin supremacy.

LinuxWorld will also be running a track of desktop Linux panel discussions and speeches on Tuesday and Wednesday. These include a panel, The Heartbeat of Linux, which your author, Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols, will be moderating. This features John Cherry from the Linux Foundation and executives from some of the top desktop distributions including SUSE, Ubuntu and Xandros.

Other LinuxWorld desktop panels include: The ODF "Ecosystem;" The "Linux Platform" - An ISV Perspective; Linux Desktop BLING: Graphics and Multimedia; The Corporate Linux Desktop - Fact, Fad or Fantasy, at which Dell IT strategist Cole Crawford, will be speaking; and Defining an Approach for the Next Generation Workplace.

For a full listing of LinuxWorld panels and speeches, see the LinuxWorld Conference Tracks page. There are, besides those events in the Linux desktop track proper, other speeches and discussions of interest to desktop Linux users such as Getting the Most Out of Your SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop.

—Steven J. Vaughan Nichols

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