New Desktops Look Promising For Channel

Solution providers say they hope the recent release of Windows XP Service Pack 1 and Apple Computer's Mac OS 10.2, coupled with forthcoming Linux desktops upgrades from Sun Microsystems and Red Hat, will spur more corporate migration to Windows XP, Mac OS and Linux.

Windows XP Service Pack 1, released this month, offers new features including the .Net Framework, USB 2.0 support and new user-interface options,required by the company's consent decree with the government,that enable OEMs and end users to more easily use competing Internet middleware.

But it's the included set of 100 bug fixes and security patches and the forthcoming release of the server operating system, Windows.Net, that are expected to draw migrations, especially for companies still running Windows 9.x releases.

Oli Thordarson, president and CEO of Alvaka Networks, Huntington Beach, Calif., said he plans to upgrade customers, although most of his business users are running Windows 2000 Professional on the desktop. If anything, the release of the first service pack may encourage more corporate adoption, he said. "Now it's ready for deployment, but it's a bit of a non-issue because there's so little deployment of Windows XP at our sites," he said.

On the Linux front, Sun and Red Hat are preparing to release desktop upgrades that offer easier-to-use GUIs and enhanced features.

Just a month after unveiling its first Linux distribution and LX50 Intel-based server, Sun unveiled the Sun ONE Desktop on Linux, comprised of the updated StarOffice, the GNOME 2.0 interface, the latest version of the Mozilla browser and the Evolution e-mail client.

For its part, Red Hat this fall is slated to debut a vastly enhanced Red Hat 8.0 Linux desktop based on GNOME 2.0 and featuring ease-of-use enhancements including improved menu bars, buttons and scroll bars, company executives said.

Red Hat executives said the company won't attempt to unseat Microsoft's Windows and Office, but instead will aim for a more targeted corporate audience that uses a few productivity applications, as well as users of technical workstations who can consolidate high-end CAD/CAM and electronic design automation (EDA) applications and productivity applications on one desktop machine.

Linux solution providers say Microsoft's controversial Licensing 6.0, combined with serious Linux endorsements by Sun and Red Hat, will help accelerate Linux on the desktop.

"We have customers already using Linux on the desktop running Mandrake or Debian with the KDE desktop, but the more options available the better for the customer," said Anthony Awtrey, vice president of integration services at I.D.E.A.L. Technology, Orlando, Fla. "Red Hat and Sun are finally joining the other desktop-oriented distributions, such as Mandrake and Lycoris, to bring Linux to the desktop," he said. "This is a good thing because it will make it happen faster, especially in the corporate space. It's also nice to see Red Hat finally agree with the rest of us solution providers that Linux is a viable and functional desktop."

Even Macintosh dealers are hoping that the integration of more than 150 new features into the major upgrade of the Mac OS X client, code-named Jaguar, will help drive more desktop sales.

According to IDC, Apple's share of the desktop market slipped to just more than 3 percent last year.

The Mac OS X 10.2 desktop incorporates iChat, an instant-messaging application; Inkwell, a handwriting-recognition capability; an enhanced Sherlock 3 search engine; and Rendezvous, Apple's proposed industry standard for automatic discovery of computers, devices and services on IP networks without requiring users to configure the devices.

Apple also integrated networking enhancements to the Macintosh client that enable it to plug into Windows networks more easily.

Analysts have said Windows XP Service Pack 1 opens the door for increased competition and new desktops configured with products from AOL, Netscape and RealNetworks, noting that Linux and even Mac OS X could get a bounce from a more level playing field. However, they say they don't expect much change the corporate landscape.