Computerworld - IBM's desktop strategy is focused on a gradual shift to portal technology. A Web-based portal to applications residing on a server could be accessed on the desktop by a client running Linux, Windows or another operating system.
In an interview last month, Scott Handy, head of IBM's Linux desktop strategy, said real desktop savings come from the server-based distribution of applications, which can cut total cost of ownership by half. Moving to a Linux desktop would also yield cost savings, he said, mostly in the form of lower fees for licensing, which he pegged at about 20% of the total cost of ownership.
But an internal memo that IBM CIO Bob Greenberg wrote in November calls for a Linux-based desktop. "Our chairman has challenged the IT organization, and indeed all of IBM to move to a Linux based desktop by the end of 2005," Greenberg wrote. "This means replacing productivity, Web access and viewing tools with open standards based equivalents."
Trink Guarino, an IBM spokeswoman, said the memo was "meant not as a policy directive" at this point. Instead, she said, it was sent as a way to "motivate" the IT organization to look at the possibilities of running Linux as the desktop operating system of choice for all of IBM's approximately 300,000 employees. But, Guarino said, "based on that memo, I would have to say we're considering it."
In a research note last week, AMR Research Inc. said the IBM memo gave credibility to the idea of a Linux desktop. "More immediately, the mere suggestion of IBM's dedication will frustrate Microsoft and its partners' efforts to cast doubt upon the corporate suitability of an open-source desktop," AMR said.
Microsoft Corp. officials, meanwhile, downplayed the memo's significance. "IBM is an important partner and customer for Microsoft," the company said in a statement, "and Microsoft will continue to work with IBM to deliver high value desktop solutions for both IBM and for its customers."
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