Desktop next frontier for Linux

At the recent Linuxexpo, several key vendors are expected to push the open source operating system beyond Internet servers — where it’s already entrenched — to the desktop.

The desktop is, in fact, the next frontier for the OS, which is already compact enough to run tiny PDA devices.

But Linux lacks a viable desktop application suite that could lure users out of the Microsoft Corp. camp, where Microsoft Office, running on Windows, dominates.

“Long gone are the days when people pick an OS and then pick a machine to run it. They start with the application they want to run, then pick the OS/hardware that supports it,” said Dan Kusnetzky, vice president of systems software research for IDC, Framingham, Mass.

Toward that end, an unlikely group of allies, including hardware rivals Sun Microsystems Inc.; IBM Corp.; Hewlett-Packard Co., as well as Linux stalwarts like VA Linux Systems Inc., are collaborating on GNOME, a common user interface for Linux.

Linux becomes a lab rat

A phalanx of tech giants said recently that they will join together to create an open source lab for developers who are adding enterprise capabilities to Linux in an effort to speed adoption of the operating system among businesses.

IBM Corp., Intel Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co., and NEC Corp. announced the Open Source Development Lab, an independent, nonprofit lab for Linux developers. The four companies plan to provide millions of dollars in funding, equipment, and technical staff to the lab over the next several years.

The lab will be based near Portland, Ore., and is expected to open at year-end.

Linux takes a new stand

Linux may be moving off the farm and onto a PC or high-end server near you.

The open-source operating system, frequently deployed in farms of single-and dual-processor Intel servers, is limited mostly to Web serving and other low-end applications. Companies have been reluctant to deploy Linux on the desktop or as a big back-end application server because of missing functionality.

Linux vendors and developers aim to change that. A group of hardware and software companies — including Compaq, IBM, Red Hat, Sun Microsystems and VA Linux Systems — have launched the Gnome Foundation to coordinate development and promote acceptance of the Gnome graphical user interface for Linux.