ProSource PC To Bundle Lindows.com OS
Late last month, Minneapolis-based ProSource PC signed a deal with Lindows.com, San Diego, to sell a line of desktops and mobile systems running the LindowsOS Linux-based operating system.
ProSource, which counts some 15,000 VARs, solution providers and systems integrators among its customers, said it has begun offering five desktops and three notebooks bundled with LindowsOS.
Starting prices for the desktop models range from $199 to $499. Notebooks start at $799, and Centrino models carry an entry-level price of $999, said ProSource executives.
John Sheaffer, CEO of Sysix, an Oak Brook, Ill.-based integrator, said his white-box subsidiary, called JANDX, is selling very few Linux-based systems, but he expects that to change in the future.
"I think as soon as Linux works out its legal issues, ISVs start writing more applications to it and [the OS] becomes more universally accepted, it will be a boon to the white-box builder," Sheaffer said.
In court papers filed last month as part of a $3 billion lawsuit, The SCO Group challenged the general public license (GPL),the legal foundation for Linux,claiming that IBM violated its contract with SCO by moving Unix technology to Linux, thus making copyrighted code available for free to anyone.
"[The legal issues] make the customer nervous," Sheaffer said. "What kind of licensing or fee structure are they facing? Will it be tied up in litigation, and would they be subject to penalties in the future based on how things are settled? It certainly makes the customers pause."
But Roger Fuhrman, Linux group leader at ProSource, said that using a free, open-source OS is beneficial to resellers and customers whereas the tradition of marking up for Microsoft licensing fees is not. Partnering with Lindows.com is a validation that "the way this business operates is changing," he said.
Lindows.com executives also said they expect the partnership with ProSource to give momentum to the white-box market for Linux.
"[LindowsOS] is helping to bring choice into a market that's been monopolistic even at the reseller level," said Larry Kettler, vice president of sales at Lindows.com