Progress toward Linux on the desktop

Is Linux on the desktop in your future? Momentum in the enterprise is slowly building for “the march of the penguin.” (Please forgive me...I love puns!)

Various distributions for Linux have been available for desktop and laptop PCs for years. Linux aficionados have snapped up the devices by one’s and two’s – not enough to create serious interest in the desktop Linux market. Now, however, there are signs that momentum for sales of desktop PCs running Linux might be picking up.

Last month, HP revealed that it is involved in “a number of massive deals for Linux desktops” and called such deals “an indicator of critical mass.” This is according to Doug Small, the worldwide director of open source and Linux marketing at HP. Small cited a potential sale that could put thousands of Linux-based HP desktops into an enterprise organization.

This is news that open source fans have been waiting for. While Linux has gained enthusiastic acceptance at the server level, it has been slow going on the desktop. Why? It’s the old “chicken and egg” conundrum: customers have shied away from buying systems that don’t have good technical support, management tools, applications, drivers and interfaces to peripherals. Vendors have hesitated to offer those services because there haven’t been enough customers demanding them. Deals like the ones cited by HP - plus growing concerns over Windows vulnerabilities - could be the tipping point toward broader vendor support and services and enterprise acceptance of desktop Linux.

While the HP deals are a strong signal to the market, they still don’t represent THE announcement that many customers as well as vendors would like: that HP (or any other major computer vendor, for that matter) is finally offering an off-the-shelf SKU of a notebook or desktop PC pre-loaded with Linux. You see, the sales being worked by HP are still all custom orders, built to suit specific customers.

Dell is offering a PC pre-configured with Linux, but not in the U.S.; you can buy it if you happen to be in China. However, the company is taking input from the public via its blog to learn what customers want in a Linux-based client device. Here’s your chance to tell Dell exactly what your company would be willing to buy if you could get an off-the-shelf product.

Lenovo appears to have an on-again, off-again relationship with Linux PCs. First the company embraces such a product, and then it abandons it, and so on. As I did my research on the Lenovo Web site today, I couldn’t find any handy information on how to buy a Lenovo PC pre-loaded with Linux. Like HP and Dell, Lenovo addresses the need on a customer by customer basis if the deal is right.

Sun is offering a workstation pre-loaded with SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 from Novell. However, it’s aimed at technical users who would want the workstation for engineering, CAD/CAM or other power uses. While these devices have their uses, they aren’t general purpose PCs that organizations will order by the thousands.

Linda Musthaler is a principal analyst with Essential Solutions Corporation.