Servers anchor desktop Linux plans

In a high-tech version of Waiting for Godot , users and industry observers have long questioned if and when Linux would arrive on corporate desktops and give Microsoft a run for its money.

Many developers now argue that the desktop issue is no longer a sign of Linux’s overall success. The success of Linux on servers already makes it a viable mainstream choice for corporate users. While a number of Linux distributors and their top-tier business partners, such as IBM and Hewlett-Packard, will continue to pursue desktop strategies, they will largely be driven through server-oriented initiatives.

IBM, for example, sees an opportunity to push more Linux onto desktops, but will do so over the course of 2003 through a number of upcoming portal server announcements.

“Our approach [to the Linux desktop] will be portal-centric,” said Steve Mills, senior vice president and group executive in charge of IBM’s $13 billion software business. “There is the Websphere Portal Server that contains hundreds of prebuilt portlets that can appear on the glass and work just fine. We will also deliver Java-based server accessible text processing and spreadsheeting. I don’t think the world is chomping at the bit to replace Word.”

Despite what many analysts report is a perpetual 2 percent (or less) share of the desktop, some industry observers think Linux vendors can at least double that share through sharper server-based strategies aimed at vertical markets. But any desktop progress will inevitably smack up against the Windows wall.

“It is likely Linux will show up more among desktop users using an application that is part of their community or organization,” said Dan Kusnetzky, vice president of operating systems research for IDC in Framingham, Mass. “If you are a particle physicist it makes sense, but maybe not if you are an accountant.”

Kusnetzky adds, however, that almost every major corporate account has a number of lock-ins through Windows applications and their file formats. Additionally, their business partners are locked into Windows, making a mass migration to the open-source operating system on their desktops unlikely.

While Linux market leader Red Hat will continue to focus hard on its server-based version of the operating system, it plans to leverage that product to eventually sell a version sculpted for the desktop.

The company plans to ship Red Hat Linux 8.1 by the end of April. It will feature several enhanced desktop-related features, such as the BlueCurve interface. By the end of this year the company plans to add a mail client that works well with dedicated e-mail servers, although company officials hesitate to associate “desktop” with the upcoming version.

“If you look at 8.1, you see innovations for not just the client side but the server side as well, which will also help sales on the desktop,” said Mark de Visser, chief marketing officer at Red Hat. “Will we get to a [dedicated] desktop product? Yes. When? Too early to tell but we are making progress.”

de Visser said when Red Hat is ready to make a dedicated push for Linux on the desktop, it will concentrate its first efforts toward corporate users, not consumers, because the application needs of corporate users are more uniform and therefore easier to address.

“We understand very well what sorts of applications have to work well, and what hardware is going to be around, and what networking capabilities are needed,” de Visser said. “Consumers expect to go into Best Buy and walk out with a little device or computer that can automatically run Linux and just work. It will be a while before the Linux desktop can do all of that.”

SuSE will concentrate its efforts this year on increasing sales of its server-based version of Linux to help increase desktop sales, mainly through a redoubled effort to certify the applications and hardware platforms of developers and manufacturers. But it will also push hard on its new desktop-based technologies.

At last month’s LinuxWorld Conference & Expo, SuSE showed off its Linux Desktop Office that allows users to run Microsoft Office and other desktop applications — without the presence of Windows. Working in concert with its server-based strategy, company officials want to put a dent in Microsoft’s desktop share, something no other desktop operating system has done, including IBM’s OS/2.

“If you look at the Linux market now, most of the application vendors have decided to support Windows and Unix platforms,” said Richard Seibt, recently appointed CEO of SuSE. “So it is in their interest to support Linux instead of all the different flavors of Unix. This is why I believe Linux will be successful [on the desktop] because we are in a different stage of development compared to the time of OS/2.”