Linux desktop consortium launched

Trying to build some much-needed enthusiasm for Linux on the desktop, a group of Linux and open-source companies has formed an association that will promote the operating system’s benefits both technical and financial.

Appropriately named the Desktop Linux Consortium (DLC), the reportedly vendor-neutral association, which includes SuSE, CodeWeavers, Ximian, OpenOffice.org, and MandrakeSoft, will be looking to determine what the computing needs of both corporate users and consumers are and to coordinate on building and promoting solutions. This desktop initiative, like several before it, figures to have a long hike uphill against Windows, which currently owns more than 90 percent of the desktop market.

“I see this consortium as just a small step toward building the future of Linux on the desktop. But it is important to get the vendors together who work on the issues of desktop Linux, like making sure both KDE and Gnome applications can work together,” said Holger Dryoff, SuSE’s director of sales, in Oakland, Calif.

Some of the activities to be undertaken by the group include trade shows, conferences, and participating in Consortium-sponsored public relations activities and programs. DLC hopes to facilitate development of common messages using Linux in personal desktop computing in governmental systems and in schools.

“The initial intentions for the DLC are very clear,” said Jeremy White, CEO of CodeWeavers. “Linux is firmly established in the server space, and now desktop Linux is coming of age. The goal of the DLC is to amplify the depth, breadth, and speed of Linux adoption in the enormous desktop computer market.”

Both White and Bruce Parens have agreed to act as interim chairman and interim executive director, respectively. Other members of the board and the group’s organizational charter will be determined by the founding members over the next several weeks, according to a group spokesman.

The DLC will be incorporated as a non-profit trade association with membership open to all companies and open-source organizations that have products to support Linux on the desktop.