2003 will be marked by the emergence of three new enterprise desktop offerings. Corporations seem interested, especially with Microsoft boosting prices. So, once again, we ask: Is this the year of the Linux desktop?
Can Linux cut it on the desktop? That was the question Linux Magazine asked its readers three years ago, promoting an interview with Corel Software CEO Michael Cowpland. At the time, Corel wasn’t alone in making a play for the desktop PC. Other companies, for example Eazel and games maker Loki Software, built their businesses around what they saw as a promising Linux desktop market. But all of them were wrong.
Three years later, Corel is out of the Linux business, its former CEO hounded by Canadian securities regulators, and Eazel and Loki have gone belly up. With less customer shipments than the Macintosh, the Linux desktop remains a minority player.
And yet, the Linux desktop dream seems closer to reality than ever before. In fact, the resurgence of interest in client-side Linux might just be one of the big stories of 2003. Red Hat — which two years ago seemed to be moving out of the Linux desktop business — is readying an enterprise desktop offering, as is its rival, SuSE, and, most intriguing of all, so is Sun Microsystems.
Lindows has replaced Corel as the high-flying consumer Linux company, and small independent software vendors like The Kompany.com, Ximian, and games maker TransGaming Technologies have jumped into the action.
But why this new interest in the Linux desktop? The investment climate is much tougher for these new companies than it was three years ago, and…
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