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HP to Globally Launch Linux-Based PCs

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the hitting-the-bigtime dept.

Rade T. writes "Reuters UK reports that HP, the No. 1 personal computer and computer printer maker, said on Wednesday that its putting its weight behind personal computers that run the Linux operating system. I guess this is the first serious step towards solving the problems that Linux faces on the Desktop/Laptop."

45 of 422 comments (clear)

  1. $699 each by QuantumRiff · · Score: 5, Funny

    Pay your SCO Fee, they throw the computer in for free!!!

    --

    What are we going to do tonight Brain?
    1. Re:$699 each by Cheerio+Boy · · Score: 3, Funny

      I would think that anything with both the words SCO and throw would be dangerous to either Daryl or the end user.

      --

      "Bah!" - Dogbert
  2. In other news, by pen · · Score: 5, Funny

    RMS demands that HP be referred to as GNU/HP.

    1. Re:In other news, by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      To be pronounced GNU/Hippy

  3. ...when? by Penguinisto · · Score: 4, Interesting
    No date or even a projection was given. Bummer.

    (PS: does this mean I can buy a laptop w/ SuSE preloaded on it now, here in the US? Or does that global thing mean what most "global" corporate initiatives do - "everywhere outside of the US")?

    --
    Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
    1. Re:...when? by crackshoe · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I would assume that HP would adopt a single flavor of linux, to decrease their hassle/improve support. and i can just image the tech support people once they've been'trained' to fix user problems on linux.

      --
      Don't worry - its just stigmata. Pass me a napkin and don't you dare tell my mother.
  4. Buy by DrugCheese · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I'll probably try to buy a manufactored PC for the first time in 10 years simply to support the principle of having a choice.

    --
    *DrugCheese rants*
    1. Re:Buy by cavebear42 · · Score: 3, Informative

      I do know how HP markets their product. It is not a suggestion. Dell takes the same approach that Redhat/Fedora takes. Home lines are for cutting edge, may or may not work, state of the art. Biz are for tested, tried and true. Dell will guaranty the life of a model and parts for it as well as all the software on it, but only for the biz. Dell further sorts their systems to desktop and workstation for what is used by normal people and system that have raid, dual video cards, and other geeky things.

      Hp has a different approach. they have personal and biz as well. the personal are pavilions and can be sorted into American made (fixable) and foreign made (disposable). check your first 2 chars of serial number if you are wondering what country it was made in. The biz lines are divided into low end, high end, and thin client. these are not sold in store and rarely sold one at a time. if you want them, you need to hook up with an HP salesman.

      I am a certified Dell, HP, Compaq, Apple, IBM ..blah, blah, blah... tech. To be fair I have not been working HP/Compaq directly since shortly after the merger and the way they operate may have changed but I would suspect that they are referring to Brios, Kayaks, ect.

    2. Re:Buy by plaa · · Score: 4, Informative
      I'll probably try to buy a manufactored PC for the first time in 10 years simply to support the principle of having a choice.

      The Slashdot story was, unsurprisingly, misleading.

      In the article (or this press release) I've seen absolutely no mention that they'd be selling the PC's to the masses, only to enterprise customers.

      A few snippets from the press release (emphasis mine):

      "HP is now the first major technology vendor to offer enterprise customers a single, proven Linux solution from desktop to datacenter," said Martin Fink...

      ...across its portfolio of business desktop and notebook PCs...


      It seemed almost too good to be true... and so it probably was.
      --

      I doubt, therefore I may be.
  5. It's about time... by IO+ERROR · · Score: 5, Interesting

    ...that a major computer manufacturer started offering desktop PCs with Linux pre-installed. Even though I'm not terribly impressed with HP's hardware, this definitely makes me more likely to support HP in the future - but only so long as they don't back down when Microsoft and SCO come calling and tell them to quit it.

    --
    How am I supposed to fit a pithy, relevant quote into 120 characters?
  6. Linux can run more stuff that this... by CharAznable · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Fink said that he expects businesses to use Linux where employees only need a few applications, such as in a call center or support center where workers need to access only a database and e-mail." I have one of the only 2 or 3 Linux desktops in a predominantly Windows environment and I can do considerably more than anyone else. On the other hand, we're safe as long as Management does not know about the existence of Tux Racer and FreeCiv!

    --
    The perfect sig is a lot like silence, only louder
  7. Reuters Buying the SCO line? by Mr+Thinly+Sliced · · Score: 3, Interesting

    From the article:

    ... The operating system has made inroads in corporate data centers, gaining ground against the Unix operating system on which it is based and other operating systems.

    Even Reuters seems to be falling for SCOs crap.
    Sigh.

    1. Re:Reuters Buying the SCO line? by jdunn14 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Based doesn't mean that the code base came from Unix. I'd agree with Reuters in that Linux is based on Unix from a design perspective. It's no coincidence that the command line is extremely similar, or that errno.h is similar, etc.

    2. Re:Reuters Buying the SCO line? by DaHat · · Score: 4, Insightful

      One OS can be based on another with out a single line of code being copied... lets take a look at the dictionary.com definition of based>.

      I like #4, "The fundamental principle or underlying concept of a system or theory; a basis"

      Linux is quite similar to Unix in terms of its higher level command set (ie what a user types in to a console to say... list the contents of a directory). By building a system which is functionally similar to an existing system, you help to ease the transition from one to the other, you base your new work on old.

      Another example of this would be XPde, tell me it isn't in some way based on the Windows XP GUI, I highly doubt a single line of code was copied from Windows XP into XPde.

      --
      Help Brendan pay off his student loans
  8. Why is this going to be different than Dell by MajorDick · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Why is this going to be any different than Dells attempt at selling Linux Based PC's ? Dell tried it and it failed. For a lot of reasons, support, lack of customers and about 50 other reasons. Im curious as to why HP thinks they can make this succeed.

    1. Re:Why is this going to be different than Dell by GooberToo · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Because Dell's effort was completely half-assed, at best. Dell made as much effort to sale Linux as you wanna kiss your friend's date's ugly girlfriend. Simple fact is, if someone actually makes an attempt, they make actually be able to do something with it.

      Dell's attempt was worthless and self defeating.

  9. Cheaper with Linux . . . or not? by StateOfTheUnion · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If the same system is available with MS-Windows or Linux, will the Linux system be cheaper (No M$ License fee)? My cynical bet is that the systems will cost the same . . .

    1. Re:Cheaper with Linux . . . or not? by pjkundert · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I would be totally happy to pay the same amount for a supported Linux desktop, laptop or PDA, as for the Windows version. I would much rather give my money to a company willing to support me, than to Microsoft, who as never supported me, no matter how many copies of software I have bought.

      I have worked with Windows since 2.0 (yes, you read that right). I've installed (and re-installed, and re-installed...) it on hundreds of computers -- for friends and family, not as my job! I've purchased several copies of Windows for our business -- not by choice, but because necessary software has required it.

      Microsoft has had literally hundreds of chances to "win me over", by just giving a *shit*, JUST ONCE, about my experience. But, they don't even know I exist. So, I've used Linux since 1995. Through all the growing pains (ever installed Slackware from 36 floppies?). Through the infancy and adolesence of Open Office, KDE, Mozilla. Through the busted device drivers, developed by dedicated developers blindfolded by the hardware manufactures they are working to enrich -- who, in turn, are slobbering after Microsoft.

      How many other people are willing to put up with just about ANY amount of annoyance, just to get some option OTHER THAN Microsoft? I'll bet there are a LOT of such people.

      If Microsoft can't make Billions AND give a crap about their clientelle, then they deserve to get the crap kicked out of them by Linux. It's not a question of if, but when.

      --
      -- -pjk Perry Kundert perry@kundert.ca http://kundert.2y.net
  10. Good stuff, hardware vendors take note by gilesjuk · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Those chip makers who say they don't want to release information on their chipsets without a NDA had better take note. They're likely to miss out supplying chips for "Designed for Linux" style PCs.

  11. Re:Big Win for SuSE by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Given the niche they're shooting for, "Fink said that he expects businesses to use Linux where employees only need a few applications, such as in a call center or support center where workers need to access only a database and e-mail."

    I don't think Microsoft is going to be doing a lot of crying in their beer. They might be looking over their shoulder, and they might like it to be otherwise, but the end result will be nominal at least in the near term.

  12. The cynic speaks... by Faust7 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Novell is latching onto anything they think can make them money because they certainly haven't made a penny in years.

    What about HP? HP-UX is dying, they need to jump on something.

    Red Hat will help push Linux to desktops. HP is wandering in the woods.

    Windows dominance is already threatened by Linux existence. Keeping that threat manageable is the key to Windows survival.

    --
    The coolest voice ever.
    1. Re:The cynic speaks... by BCW2 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Novell is still the best backbone around. Secure and easy to admin. Redhat abandoned the desktop.
      Do you ever read any article on /.?

      --
      Professional Politicians are not the solution, they ARE the problem.
  13. Time to mature by mao+che+minh · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Linux (and more importantly, the applications that the big dogs like IBM and Novell are now pushing on it) will never mature to a usable level until it gets corporate desktop exposure. With it, they begin to get feedback, like "We need feature A in application B, and this aspect of KDE/Gnome/Ximian isn't very useful".

    It's a shame that the Asian market gets it first (for selfish reasons), I would like to see a fully functioning Novell/Suse desktop (the people at the Brain Share "show" are getting a sneak peek now).

  14. Novell's press release by i2878 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    HP and Novell Expand Relationship to Offer Linux From Desktop to Datacenter

    Can Novell please get a /. "topic" now?

    --
    legal. fun. profitable. pick two.
  15. I wonder what microsoft thinks of all this by Capt'n+Hector · · Score: 5, Insightful

    First HP goes with Apple for music (iTunes and HP iPod) and now they are trying out Linux... that's twice microsoft has been bested in favor of open standards. I never thought I'd hear myself say this, but go HP!

    --
    Quid festinatio swallonis est aetherfuga inonusti?
    Africus aut Europaeus?
    1. Re:I wonder what microsoft thinks of all this by Ryan+Amos · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Look at it this way: The guys in India and Russia work just as hard as the people here do. HP's competitors will hire these people even if HP does not, yet American workers cost more. If HP doesn't oursource to India, they're at a disadvantage. This is way OT, so I won't debate here as there have been far too many stories about this recently. But the crux of the situation is that the world economy is evolving so that we're not the only people capable of white collar work. If you want the job, you can have it, but it may require relocating to Bangalore and taking a significant pay cut.

      I'm not totally insensitive here; I'm in the same boat too, but you have to be realistic and see the direction the world economy is headed. Just because these guys in India weren't born in Kentucky doesn't mean they deserve the job any less. If you work for someone else, you're always going to be subject to their rules. Learn to deal with it or work for yourself.

    2. Re:I wonder what microsoft thinks of all this by Ironica · · Score: 4, Interesting

      But isn't Microsoft a monopoly? I thought monopolies kept the competition from the market?

      Gee, wonder what people would say if it turned out Microsoft never was a monopoly...

      [begin antitrust 101 lecture]
      A monopoly is a company that dominates a market. There are natural monopolies, and they are legal. It is not legal to leverage legally-gained monopoly power to "enforce" your monopoly on others (by keeping competition out of the market) or to gain monopoly power in other markets.

      Microsoft dominates the desktop market. They are now seeing some competition entering. Since it is illegal for them to use their monopoly power to smack down the competition, they'll have to just try to provide a more attractive product. This is not something they are used to doing. It will be interesting to see what happens.

      --
      Don't you wish your girlfriend was a geek like me?
    3. Re:I wonder what microsoft thinks of all this by The+Lynxpro · · Score: 4, Interesting

      "First HP goes with Apple for music (iTunes and HP iPod) and now they are trying out Linux... that's twice microsoft has been bested in favor of open standards. I never thought I'd hear myself say this, but go HP!"

      Before I get modded down or flamed for writing this, I think it would be the sanest thing for HP to put forward a rational suggestion to Apple for them to license the Mac platform to HP. And here is my reasoning:

      1. Longhorn is in developmental hell. The more setbacks Microsoft suffers PR wise regarding security issues and the more applications like iTunes shows up Microsoft developed "solutions", the more PC manufacturers dependent upon Windows suffer. On the other hand, OS X keeps improving, and even the hardest Apple basher on Slashdot has to admit this begrudgingly.

      2. The Media Center PC experiment is not prime-time yet. And its only a matter of time before TiVo throws down the gauntlet at Microsoft on IP violations just as its done to Echostar (DishNetwork).

      3. As long as Dell is Microsoft's preferred vendor, HP is going to come up on the short end.

      4. Linux is not prime-time for Joe Six-Pack. Even the great Mandrake distribution suffers from the same problem as do all other Linux distributions...the availability of known game releases and consumer friendly titles on the store shelf.

      Now compare that to the OS X platform.

      If HP jumped in and became the SOLE Mac hardware and software licensee, this is what would happen:

      1. Component prices would fall for the Mac side of the business, thereby improving both Apple and HP's costs.

      2. Consumers gun-shy about buying a Mac over a PC would evaporate because it is no longer locked to a single vendor.

      3. The demographic for HP consumer customers is not generally the same as an Apple customer. So there is not a large chance of Apple actually suffering from defections. If anything, Apple would be sure to gain marketshare because HP would legitimize the OS X platform for corporate America.

      4. Even if HP did "steal" some Apple customers, Apple would still have a bigger chance at grabbing them with value-added purchases like .Mac subscriptions, iSight, etc.

      5. HP's Unix team could directly contribute to OS X. Its not like HP would be a disaster of a "cloner" like what Dell would be. Well, maybe after all the SCO mess is cleared up to be on the safe side.

      Of course, HP would have to overcome their reluctance of purchasing microprocessors from IBM (maybe part of the deal would be that IBM had to license the G5 line to Motorola). Apple would have to overcome their licensing reluctance and actually sit down and analyze the fact that HP is no Umax or Power Computing. Apple has come a long ways with the iPod licensing; I would hope they could do they same here.

      --
      "Right now, somewhere in this world, Scott Baio is plowing a woman he doesn't love," - Peter Griffin, *Family Guy*
    4. Re:I wonder what microsoft thinks of all this by The+Lynxpro · · Score: 4, Interesting

      "I haven't looked at HP laptops recently, but it's reasonable to assume that they're cheaper than an equivalent Apple. Therefore, if HP sold computers wiht OS X, I probably would have bought from them instead of Apple. I believe that historically Apple has refused to allow mac clones because of people like me, and that they will continue in the same way."

      Well, take into account what you have used to base your arguments. Are HP laptops cheaper than Mac laptops? Yes. On a pure MHZ/GHZ scale, they are. Why is this? Because Intel/AMD chips are generally cheaper because of volume.

      If HP and Apple were both procuring the same resources together, that being PPC chips, they would drop in price. Apple would actually increase their profits per machine sold because their costs would be reduced.

      Furthermore, you yourself said you purchased an iBook strictly because of OS X. You are a switcher; you aren't Apple's bread-and-butter-continuously-upgrading-to-the-nex t-best-thing-from-Apple that the company relies upon. While Apple would be competing with HP for new OS X converts, they wouldn't be competing for their core customers for the most part. Ergo, Apple has little to lose over my proposition and much more to gain.

      Besides, if they can do a focused license with HP on the iPod, which they generate the largest profit margin from (38% per unit sold) than from any other item in their arsenal, then it would not be a losing proposition to do a limited license with HP.

      And, I bring this up again...HP could help with the developmental cost of OS X. That is why my suggestion is not damaging to Apple like the typical "cloning" suggestion most people make, ala what happened with Power Computing and Umax, no name companies that competed with Apple for the very same customers.

      --
      "Right now, somewhere in this world, Scott Baio is plowing a woman he doesn't love," - Peter Griffin, *Family Guy*
  16. Re:Buy with a conscience by dreamchaser · · Score: 3, Offtopic

    Our job market is in shambles? A 5.6% unemployment rate is NOT shambles. Also, as a hiring manager in IT I can certainly attest to the fact that there are IT jobs being filled in the States, too.

    I know this is offtopic, and feel free to mod me as such. I just can't let FUD like that stand on it's own merit without some clarification.

    I'm not fond of seeing jobs go overseas, but that's the price of free trade sometimes. There are also about 6 million jobs in the US for foreign companies (names like Sony come to mind, plus many more).

  17. Puzzeling... by The_DOD_player · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It is a strange fate the Linux desktop seem to take.

    Most of us, who already use Linux on desktop on a regular basis, consider ourselfs power-users. One of the reasons I use Linux (well... KDE ;) ) on desktop, is because it allows me to organize many browser-windows, editors, IM-windows ect. without cluttering the UI. Yet here the Linux-desktop is being presented as a tool for the light-weight users.

    It would seem we have little in common with these new Linux users.

  18. Forget world tours, show us the drivers by MrIrwin · · Score: 5, Insightful

    When HP budget injets and scanners come with Linux support in the box then I will take this sort of news seriously.

    --

    And if you thought that was boring you obviously havn't read my Journal ;-)

  19. This is not as good as you might think by Mentorix · · Score: 5, Interesting

    My experience with the Linux offerings from HP is that they don't really mean Linux, but just RedHat or SUSE. I spoke with one of their european account managers a few weeks ago concerning their blade server solutions and basicly, if I wasn't going to run RH or SUSE on their hardware they couldn't offer support or anything. Since both redhat and suse don't meet our needs (not without rebuilding the kernels that came with them - thus voiding support responsibility) there's no choice at all.

    It's the vendor lockin story all over *again*. I have no doubt that they will try to approach the desktop market in the same way. At least until HP proves me wrong and announces support for the linux *kernel* and promises at least a best effort policy on the different distros.

    Now this is just my experience with HP, a talk with IBM went much smoother and their bladeservers are already on their way, just have to install debian on them and I'm all set. (yay! got to mention debian afterall!)

    1. Re:This is not as good as you might think by theantix · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Your demands are not realistic, you could not reasonably expect HP to support any linux distribution someone could throw one one of their machines. There is so much variety in the linux world that a technical support team would be hard pressed to help the disparate needs of their customers, I would be surprised if they would even support version of SuSE or RedHat that was customized in a significant way (for example a custom kernel or non-stock filesystem type or desktop environment). Tech support just doesn't work that way, and you can't reasonably expect them to be able to help people that deviate too far from the stock system they understand.

      What you _can_ reasonably suspect is that they will officially support a select few distributions that have special relationships with the company, to ship drivers that work with those distribtions, and finally *release specs* to their hardware and the source to their distro-specific drivers. That way, other distributions have all the information they need to get their systems to work with HP's hardware if they desire it. That is far more reasonable that what you propose.

      --
      501 Not Implemented
  20. Any SCO(x) i.e. litigious bastards reactions? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    With ``SCO racketee^H^H^H asking Aussies for license'' news earlier on the page, just wondering if SCO will respond to this by extort^H^H^H asking HP to license it's (non-existent) IP?

    I mean, why should HP be left out of the ``big companies getting sued by SCO'' list. It'll soon get to be a club kind of thing.

    Or has HP cut a deal with SCO? In which case their linux-based products should be anathema.

    Just wondering if anyone has heard anything.

  21. No trolls please by Dalcius · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Just to cut off some of the trolls at the pass:

    Linux is not ready for "12 year old John gets a Linux CD and installs and is ready to go", nor is the support out there for Mom and Pop to click "DOWNLOAD ME" on a website and be up and going.

    That said, for the corporate environment, Linux is perfect. It can be pre-configured and mirrored in a sysadmin's sleep, locked down to kill almost all support problems, and managed remotely with little effort. The applications, for the vast part, work almost exactly the same as their Windows counterparts and as such training costs are minimal.

    Notice a pattern? The limitation of Linux is ease of administration and software/hardware support. Any place where Joe User is wanting to download and install a program from his favorite news website or Jane User wants to reinstall the OS, Linux is not 'ready' for casual use. But in a controlled environment, like a company where hardware and software falls under the umbrella of IT, these issues don't pose a problem.

    As long as a company can find the applications they need to do their work (or start/join an OSS project and complete their own), Linux is pie on the desktop and has many benefits most companies would die for, once realized. Once you've got a Linux friendly IT department and have found the right apps, limitations are few and far between.

    Once corporations adopt Linux, support problems will diminish, and once workers take it home, support problems will all but disappear. The snowball will feed itself.

    Lack of lock-in, lack of security issues, lack of luser-stupidity-blew-everything-up scenarios and lack of licensing and upgrade costs are huge in the terms of $$$.

    Cheers

    --
    ~Dalcius
    Rome wasn't burnt in a day.
  22. Sun doing the same thing by nuclearmoose · · Score: 4, Informative
    You can now buy PC's with Sun JDS at Walmart:
    Sun Java OS PC's

    $300 for a "complete" 1.6Ghz Duron system isn't too bad...

  23. Cheap computer, expensive replacement keystrokes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    In the spirit of HP's line of printers, they will offer these computers at below cost to manufacture them, but they will be limited to 100 keystrokes from your keyboard and 100 feet of movement from your mouse. At this point, you will need to buy the appropriate replacement keystroke cartridge at $129. Replacement mouse balls and optical lights will be available somewhere where you can't find them.

  24. The HP News Release by El+Cubano · · Score: 3, Informative

    Here is HP's news release. It is mostly marketing fluff, but has a few more details than the Reuter's piece. Their server also isn't melting down at the moment.

  25. Re:ipod open standard? by repetty · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ACC is an open standard. The DRM is your problem.

  26. Re:Buy with a conscience by Cytotoxic · · Score: 3, Informative
    That's the figure based on the number of people collecting unemployment, which you're only able to do for six months after being laid off. For example, the bulk of the support workers HP outsourced last year would not appear in this figure.
    This is completely wrong. The unemployment insurance numbers have absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the unemployment numbers. The government uses a survey, the Current Population Survey (CPS) to determine the unemployment numbers. This is explained in detail at the US Department of Labor's website
  27. Scanners and Printer drivers by RichMan · · Score: 5, Insightful
    HP needs to show how really committed to Linux they are by making drivers for their scanners and printers that work under Linux.

    Look at all the unsupported scanners SANE Project HP search

  28. Apple could make a good move here by adzoox · · Score: 4, Insightful
    ... and release iTunes for Linux - and have the iTunes Music Store on the "other percentage" of computers as well. This would - I'm sure - make HP very happy and sort of give them the "killer app" on Linux PC distribution - and bolster their own partnership with Apple, the hPod, and iTunes.

    --
    Yell & scream & rant & rave... it's no use... you need a shaaaave ~ Bugs Bunny
  29. Ehm yeah right. Read up on MS history by SmallFurryCreature · · Score: 5, Insightful
    If you are old enough you may remember when PC's were new and suspicious. Real work was done on terminals hooked up to mainframes or at a minimum servers.

    But slowly the idea started to emerge that not everyone needed the full power of a mainframe setup. Cheap simple extremely limited machines started to appear wich could do a few tasks but that was all they needed to do. These machines where DOS and later Windows machines.

    Now linux is doing the same. Sure Linux does not have the same capacity yet as a windows machine but windows did not have the same capacity as a mainframe. The question is does it do what is required well enough?

    There is a difference. Dos/Windows got in through the lowend single purpose workstation. Linux is going in at all angles. High end server, middle file/printer server, lowend single purpose workstation, specialized appliance (firewall).

    MS is scared. HP selling linux as an option is not something MS wants to see.

    --

    MMO Quests are like orgasms:

    You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.

    1. Re:Ehm yeah right. Read up on MS history by gujo-odori · · Score: 3, Interesting
      Linux does not have the same capacity yet as a windows machine

      You're right, we just don't have that BSOD trick down like Windows does, probably never will :-)

      Seriously, though, that statement needs some qualification and narrowing. The question "Same capacity for what?" will help.

      Yes, there are some areas where Linux lags quite a bit behind Windows. The most significant of these are, in my opinion:

      • Multimedia, including sound, video, and graphics editing (yes, I know about The GIMP and use it, but it's still not Photoshop)
      • Gaming
      • Easy discovery of other resources on the LAN
      • CRM (yes, I know about Compiere, but those who have used it have told me it's not yet as good as what's available on Windows, and there is more choice of software on Windows)
      Of these three areas, which ones are of importance to business? Only the last two, unless your business is multimedia, and if it is you're probably using a Linux render farm and have a lot of custom software that runs on Linux workstations, too. If you're not that big, you probably do all of your work on Win or Mac. However, multimedia businesses are a small segment of the market.

      The general business sector is where people will care about easy discovery of LAN resources. Now, I confess to not having looked very closely at this, to see what is being done in the Linux world. Probably some progress has been made of which I am totally unaware, but speaking in general terms, I think it's easier for an average user to find network shares and printers on a Windows LAN (including ones that actually have a Samba PDC) than to do the equivalent work on a LINUX LAN. One answer to this might be to implement Rendezvous on Linux. Another would be to make up some user-oriented graphical tools for Samba that would make it easy for users to create shares and browse for printers (I believe there are some of those, but don't know how good they are) and tightly integrate those tools with Gnome and KDE. Vendor-specific tools are not the solution to this problem (coiughMandrakecoughSuSEcough).

      So, what areas that are important to business does Linux cover well?

      • Web browsing
      • Email
      • Instant Messaging
      • Groupware mostly (Kolab and Kontact are decent, but more work probably needs to be done, and there are various web-based groupware solutions that may have issues for people who need to work out of the office)
      • Office suite (for most business, OpenOffice.Org or Star Office will meet their needs)
      • Security and Stability. I don't think I even need to say more about this :-)

      So, we have most of the business core areas covered and are making progress in the ones where we still need to do some work. And as you said, Linux is coming from all angles, which gives it the potential to be a total vertical solution from the staff PDAs and cell phones all the way up to the server farm. Microsoft is the only other vendor who sells software at all those levels. At some of those levels, Linux is already better, and it's improving rapidly at the others. And it's [Ff]ree.

      Yes, MS is scared. Linux is doing to them what they did to the big iron software vendors, or doing it a lower price point and with more freedom.