Click here to receive your FREE subscription to Campus Technology
Featured News
IBM To Team with Linux Vendors on 'Microsoft-Free' PCs
8/7/2008
|
|
IBM and name-brand Linux operating system distributors Red Hat, Novell, and Canonical/Ubuntu have disclosed their intentions to join forces with their hardware partners to create what they are calling "Microsoft-free personal computing choices."
IBM and its partners plan to bundle their Linux distros with Big Blue's Open Collaboration Client Solution, which includes Lotus Notes, Lotus Symphony, and Lotus Sametime. Under the agreement, PC makers will be able to sell the bundled software with their desktop products. The group expects to have these software bundles ready sometime next year.
IBM has had 10 years of experience supporting Linux on servers, and now the company sees the right conditions to work toward a desktop Linux push. Those conditions include shifting market forces, slow adoption of Microsoft's Vista desktop operating system and increasing demands for alternatives to "costly" Windows and Office licensing.
"Linux has always been about choice," said Inna Kuznetsova, director of Linux at IBM. She spoke to reporters gathered in San Francisco on Tuesday at the LinuxWorld Conference and Expo. Referring pointedly to Microsoft's longtime desktop dominance, she added, "I can hardly name an area where choice is needed more."
Jeff S. Smith, Vice President of open source and Linux middleware for IBM's Software Group, called Linux's notoriously slow march to the desktop an "interesting evolution."
"It's no big secret that the client side of the IT environment is one of the last bastions of proprietary technology, disproportionately dominated by one vendor," Smith said. "We have long believed that helping to bring openness and choice to the client desktop is one of the next things to explode in this whole march for Linux."
Neither Smith nor Kuznetsova would provide the names of any hardware vendors who have signed on to this initiative. Kuznetsova said that the vendor deals were still in the works.
However, IBM's position is that desktop Linux is ultimately more profitable for a PC vendor. Moreover, it's better equipped to work with lower cost hardware than Microsoft's operating system. IBM plans to work with local business partners globally to build and distribute PCs preloaded with the Linux operating system of each distributor.
Recommended Reading
- California Community Colleges Partner with Waterfall Mobile on Statewide Emergency Notification Coverage
The Foundation for California Community Colleges (FCCC) has awarded a statewide emergency alert notification contract to Waterfall Mobile. The contract establishes Waterfall's AlertU as an approved technology through the official non-profit foundation for the California Community College (CCC) system office. Through this partnership, individual colleges may directly implement emergency communication services, eliminating lengthy technology evaluation and RFP processes.
- King's College and ASU Add e2Campus for Improved Emergency Notifications
King's College and Arizona State University have switched to Omnilert's e2Campus for emergency notification. Omnilert also has introduced a new program called the ENS Conversion Service that allows schools to bulk upload data from their previous emergency notification system into e2Campus at no charge.
- Saint Joseph Builds Out Wireless Network in Multi-year Upgrade
Saint Joseph's University has begun deploying a Meru Networks wireless local area network across its Philadelphia campus as part of a multi-year effort to bring wireless coverage to every building on campus.
- Vista Ramp Up Is Happening Now, Study Says
Organizations may have been slow to adopt Microsoft Windows Vista, but expect that to change by late 2008 to 2009, according to a Forrester Research report by Benjamin Gray et al., published last week.
- Talisma Launches New Version of CRM with Built-in Application Management
Talisma Corp. announced version 8.0 of its constituent relationship management (CRM) application for higher education. The new release includes application management, a revamped user interface, two-way text messaging, personalized Web portals, and an ADA-compliant Web client, among other enhancements.
- Bringing Composers into Classrooms Through Skype
Two Pennsylvania teaching colleagues with an interest in music and technology are bringing remote experts into classrooms at almost no cost, using Skype's free videoconferencing technology.
