Linux doing the desktop

One area of the enterprise that Linux hasn’t had a huge impact on yet is the desktop. It seems that could be changing ever so slowly, according to out story in this week’s Enterprise Applications section.

Our author (Jmears@nww.com) states that an SG Cowen survey of more than 500 North American companies last year found that of the 80% of respondents that were using Linux, only 15% were using it on the desktop.

But while organizations see big cost savings in casting off proprietary licensing fees, many challenges remain. Not the least of which is the lack of application support, as well as a reluctance within organizations to move from an established operating system to one that is unfamiliar and may not have all the bells and whistles they’re used to.

Interest is growing though, as vendors such as Sun and Novell focus on their Linux desktop offerings. IBM also sees budding demand, and an internal memo leaked to the press in January indicated that Big Blue planned to move all employee desktops to the open source operating system by 2005.

Governments are also turning to Linux for cost savings, as well for reliability and stability. In addition, with Linux, customers are not tied to a predetermined package of desktop tools and can mix and match according to their needs. The Linux OS runs a variety of open source programs including the GNOME and KDE desktop environments, StarOffice and OpenOffice productivity suites, Mozilla browser and Evolution mail and calendar.

IDC predicts that Linux in server and client operating environments will continue to grow at a faster rate than any other operating environment. On the client side, paid shipments of Linux held just a 1.7% share in 2000, but grew to 2.8% in 2002, just a tenth of a percent behind Apple.

For more on this story see: https://www.nwfusion.com/news/2004/0308desktop.html