Red Hat plans desktop push

Linux distributor Red Hat is to ship its Red Hat Technical Workstation product in the second quarter of next year. The software will be aimed at enterprise desktop systems, and could attract interest from firms looking for an alternative to Windows in the wake of Microsoft's new licensing policies.

Linux has been growing in importance in the enterprise server arena over the past couple of years, but has so far failed to make much impact on the desktop. However, new developments may change this. Linux vendor Suse last month announced that its Linux Office Desktop and Linux Enterprise Desktop products will be released early next year.

Red Hat, as the largest supplier of Linux solutions, is well placed to meet demand for desktop products. "The natural next step in our enterprise roadmap is to create a stable, high-performance workstation solution to complement Red Hat Linux Advanced Server," said Paul Cormier, Red Hat's executive vice president of engineering.

Red Hat said that its Technical Workstation would be 100 percent compatible with Red Hat Linux Advanced Server, which would simplify the task of deploying enterprise-wide Linux solutions. This compatibility would result in reduced costs through faster deployments, common application support, and easier system administration, according to the firm. It added that Technical Workstation would be an ideal environment for developing applications to be deployed on Red Hat Linux Advanced Server.

Corporate PCs predominantly run Windows, but many IT buyers have been angered by Microsoft's new licensing scheme with its annual subscription fees per seat, which in many cases will increase desktop running costs. However, any move to Linux is likely to be slowed by the need to retrain staff who are currently more familiar with Microsoft operating systems.

Pricing for Red Hat Technical Workstation has yet to be announced.

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See also:

Desktop Linux Consortium nears launch

Non-profit trade organisation aims to boost open source adoption  10 Feb 2003

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Red Hat's latest Linux beta release includes facilities for configuring Samba file and print servers  28 Jan 2003

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Goldman Sachs report spells bad news for Microsoft and Unix  20 Jan 2003

UnitedLinux products ship

SCO, Suse, Conectiva and Turbolinux are shipping their first UnitedLinux products, aiming to challenge Red Hat  25 Nov 2002

Linux adds desktop tools

The inexorable rise of Linux in the enterprise will continue over the next three months with new desktop releases from Suse and Red Hat  11 Nov 2002

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