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On Monday, Novell CEO Jack Messman looked at the challenge of Microsofts forthcoming Vista desktop and saw an opportunity for the Linux desktop.
Speaking at Novell Inc.s BrainShare conference and expo in Barcelona, Spain, Messman said, “The cost of migrating from XP to Vista will be higher than the cost of migrating to Linux and that will push migrations to Linux.”
In particular, Messman continued, “We have already delivered Novell Linux Desktop 9, a clear alternative to Microsoft.”
“On the desktop, IT professionals are fighting the high costs associated with hardware, Windows and Microsoft Office licenses, management software, anti-virus software, and client access licenses for back-end servers.”
In contrast, Messman continued, “Novells Desktop solutions can free your Open Enterprise; free you from the oppression of the Microsoft desktop—that expensive, over-engineered, one-size-fits-all, virus-plagued operating system that consumes time, money, and people from strategic projects that could otherwise help you grow your businesses for the 21st century—and we can do all this while saving you money.”
Its more than just pricing and the cost of upgrading, though, according to Messman.
“Theres no doubt about it. The world is ready to free themselves from vendor lock-in, to lower IT operating costs, to make the enterprise more flexible, and to once and for all, put control of technology back in the hands of customers, where it belongs.”
In contrast, “with Novell on the desktop, companies can deploy an open source desktop operating system and office-productivity environment, including Novell Linux Desktop and OpenOffice, free from security threats and unplanned downtime,” claimed Messman.
At the same time, though, users wont have to give up their Microsoft .Net applications since you can “now run them on Linux with Novells open source MONO project, as well as leverage thousands of high quality open source products.”
Messman also talked about Open Enterprise Server, the server operating system that includes both NetWare and SLES (SUSE Linux Enterprise Server)
He said that since its introduction in March 2005, that “the response has been very enthusiastic.”
Further, “Since its introduction, over 4,000 customers have upgraded to Open Enterprise Server and more than 65 percent of those customers are deploying on Linux,” Messman said.