Despite rumors to the effect that IBM will be making a big Linux desktop announcement today at the Linux Desktop Conference in Boston, MA, IBM spokesman Michael Darcy insists that IBMs Linux desktop position hasnt changed. This first-time event is being sponsored by the Desktop Linux Consortium (DLC), a non profit organization dedicated to the advancement of the use of Linux on the desktop.
The rumors centered on a speech from IBM Global Services executive Sam Docknevich entitled, “The Time is Now for Linux on the Desktop.” What Docknevich will be presenting, Darcy says, is simply a restatement of IBMs Global Services willingness to support customers who want Linux on the desktop.
“I know it sounds odd,” Darcy says, “but there is no press release, no news here.” IBM Global Services has long supported companies that want a Linux desktop by working with customers and Linux distributors to come up with the right desktop product and support package.
The Linux desktop has been in the news a lot recently. Raleigh NC-based, Red Hat Inc. has decided to abandon its commercially supported Linux desktop the Red Hat 9 family, while continuing to support a community based general purpose Linux, Fedora. Simultaneously, Novell Inc., soon to be partially owned by IBM, has embraced the Linux desktop. Novell has done this with its purchase of Ximian and then its announcement of support for Linux from the desktop to the server with the upcoming acquisition of SuSE Linux Ag.
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