Linux Makes Slow Ascent In Desktop Market
Linux ISVs are mindful of Microsoft's stranglehold in the desktop market. Yet some are cautiously optimistic that open-source products may sell well to SMB customers, which tend to be more price-sensitive than their enterprise counterparts. And given the disdain for Microsoft's Licensing 6.0 policies, Linux may also appeal to cost-conscious enterprises that would rather add incrementally to their Windows networks than rip-and-replace them.
One Linux solution provider said he is seeing more end-user interest in Linux desktops but he is trying to restrain clients from making the transition before the desktops are ready for prime time. "Linux on the desktop is not quite yet here," said Chris Maresca, CEO of Palo Alto, Calif.-based Olliance Consulting Group, a provider of open-source consulting services. Linux desktop suites still need more enterprise applications such as scheduling and project management, he said, and they lack simple development environments. "But that will change in the next year," he said, "and I think that we will see more widespread deployments in the next 18 months."
Over the past year, leading Linux distribution vendors have been retooling their consumer desktops for practical corporate use. Linux leader Red Hat, for instance, is preparing a new corporate desktop client for expected release this fall that will be compatible with Microsoft Office file formats and priced competitively.
SuSE, the leading UnitedLinux vendor, launched a $129 Linux Office Desktop last January. In March, SuSE followed up with a new enterprise desktop priced at roughly $600 for a five-user license and free software maintenance.
Sun's forthcoming Linux desktop, code-named Mad Hatter, is 80 percent compatible with Microsoft Office, Sun executives said. Several sources expect the Java-ready, browser-based Linux desktop with a brand-new StarOffice 6.1 software suite to debut in September.
Last week, Sun executives confirmed that Mad Hatter will be detailed at the company's SunNetwork show in September and will be priced between $50 and $100 per desktop per year, although Sun will also offer a perpetual license option. Mad Hatter tightly integrates Java, the StarOffice suite, the Mozilla browser, the GNOME interface and the Evolution e-mail and calendar application.
Also, the availability of Linux-based e-mail and database servers, and the porting of mainstream desktop apps to Linux, further reduces software costs for customers, who are tired of paying Microsoft costly Exchange and SQL client access license fees, observers said.
Linux desktops are used primarily by technical/engineering specialists as Unix workstation replacements. But the increasing availability of desktop applications such as Mitch Kapor's forthcoming Microsoft Outlook-like client and Novell GroupWise for Linux may help fuel adoption.
However, even staunch Linux channel supporters acknowledge it will be far more difficult for Linux vendors to replicate the same level of success on the desktop as they have on the server.
Yet even Microsoft, which once dismissed possibilities for Linux on the desktop, appears to be taking notice. At the company's annual financial analysts meeting on July 24, Microsoft CFO John Connors cited Linux on the desktop as a possible risk to future earnings. Meanwhile, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates trumpeted the upcoming Office 2003 and Longhorn release of Windows in 2005 as delivering unparalleled business value to customers.