Compaq rolling out Linux on the desktop

TriangleMan writes "Compaq will be making RH Linux an option on a number of their PCs and workstations. The press release is here and press coverage is already appearing. It also looks like RH and Compaq are going to be enhancing interoperability between Tru64 and Linux, including binary compatibility. "

Comments

Dell has it on desktops too

[Anonymous Coward]

Check the dell store at www.dell.com, and look at the optiplex's. "Optiplex with Linux" is one of the four major families now.

PS - I don't have FPS! :-)

Re:Why RH?

[Anonymous Coward]

maybe because:

(a) RedHat is the market leader

(b) OpenLinux is not available for Alpha!

(c) RedHat's base distribution is practically all free software, while the OpenLinux installer is proprietary

Re:Why RH?

[SoftwareJanitor]

Just out of curiosity, why are they sticking with Red Hat,

My guess would be name recognition, if nothing else. Compaq may also owe some loyalty to Red Hat because of their support for the Alpha.

considering that A) Their latest offering has taken a lot of flak about being weighted down

Maybe among technical audiences like Slashdot, but I doubt this criticism is widespread amongst Compaq's target audience, which includes a fair number of newbies and nontechies.

with two desktop environments

Personally, not a bad thing in my opinion. I am not yet ready to limit myself to only KDE or only GNOME, and I may never want to. New machines are big (RAM, HD) and fast enough that space isn't that big a concern.

and seems rushed

Then again, much of Compaq's target audience are used to Microsoft's products, which usually suffer the same sort of problems.

and B) OpenLinux has all the features of Red Hat plus a graphical install,

For the preload market we are talking about here, a graphical install is much less of an issue. Its not like we are talking about Windows, where the user may have to repeatedly re-install when the OS eats itself.

etc.

I don't mean to cause a flamewar here, but think about it...Red Hat seems to be abandoning the desktop in favor of corporate customers,

I don't know that I see evidence of this happening, and even if it was true, the corporate customer market is Compaq's target, so why not Red Hat?

and there are better desktop-oriented distros out there

But history has shown us that too often technical issues about which is 'better' and which is better marketed are different issues. If customers mention Red Hat more often than Caldera, SuSE or Debian, Compaq is likely to go with Red Hat.

(Corel's version of debian should be interesting, to say the least).

True, but isn't that targeted towards StrongARM? Corel has taken a fair bit of flak on Slashdot for doing 'yet another distribution', so I am not sure Compaq would be well served by doing their own distro or building their own variant.

Re:Why RH?

[weloytty]

When Joe Sixpack hears Linux, he probably thinks:

f) The Charley Brown character with a blanket

Not really Linux on the Desktop

[IntlHarvester]

Hold your horses -- this isn't an announcement of Linux support on your common Compaq Deskpros, laptops, or home machines.

The annoucement lists AlphaServers, Proliants (x86 servers) and the Professional Workstation XP1000, which is Alpha based. No support even for the Intel workstations.

(As a side note, Compaq has to be about the worst vendor for releasing their machine specifications. I was considering buying a used PPro Professional Workstation, but the most I could get from the spec sheets was "integrated SCSI-2UW" and "integrated NetFlex 10/100 ethernet". (Some digging found that they use different chipsets in the same model line.) In the old days, Compaq made their own very good SCSI and Ethernet equipment, but I guess now they are just trying to delude their customers while packaging cheapo commodity equipment.)
--

This is the real good news from the article:

[spun]

On the marketing front, the agreement will set in motion initiatives involving Compaq's ActiveAnswers and Red Hat's Kick Start programs, and will focus on training for the Compaq sales force and channel partners; documentation and tools to improve serviceability, performance and ease of installation; and customer-focused activities such as seminars, trade shows and the ever-popular telemarketing

Q: What has Microsoft had that Linux never has?

a. Bugs
b. A Dork Lord of the Sith
c. A Bigger Marketing Campaign than God
d. All of the Above

Well, the answer is clearly D, but answer B is the important one from the PHB viewpoint. I'm hoping this will really start to address the issue of marketing linux on a large scale. One thing customers like is choice. Sales people know this. Even if they choose Microsoft 90% of the time at first, at least they will be hearing the phrase, "Do you want Microsoft or Linux with that server?"

That, IMHO, is a big win for our team.