Linux desktop growing up and eyeing corporate users

Special Focus  By John Fontana, Network World, 10/30/06

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If employees at Backcountry.com want a Windows desktop they better have a good excuse, because the standard issue is Linux.

While some might think the backcountry-gear outfitter has been out in the woods a bit too long, the reality is that commercial Linux desktops are starting to show maturity, starting to improve their looks and starting to find a niche behind corporate walls.

“People have to justify Windows to get it, and even then I challenge them a bit,” says Dave Jenkins, the CTO for Backcountry.com. Nearly 70% of the online retailer’s 200 or so desktops are Linux, including multiuser machines stationed in the company’s warehouse. Those on Windows desktops typically need it to support Excel and the macros that run only inside that spreadsheet.

Jenkins’s conclusion is that Linux is starting to make its case as a viable alternative to Windows.

Helping that notion are major vendors, including IBM and Sun who are putting a focus on the desktop, including IBM’s release earlier this year of a full Notes client that runs on Linux desktops.

And while no pragmatist in the Linux community will use the word “replacement,” the confidence level is up given Novell’s recent release of its desktop SUSE Enterprise Linux 10, the impending release next year of Red Hat Enterprise 5.0, and the growing popularity of the easy-to-use Ubuntu distribution and a myriad of other Linux desktop versions from Xandros to LinSpire.

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