From: Ad 

http://www.crn.com/hardware/197800591

"Hewlett-Packard is closing custom deals for thousands of desktop PCs
running Linux, which has the company assessing the possibility of offering
factory-loaded Linux systems, an HP executive said.

"We are involved in a number of massive deals for Linux desktops, and
those are the kinds of things that are indicators of critical mass. So we
are really looking at it very hard," said Doug Small, worldwide
director of open source and Linux marketing at HP. "We are in a
massive deal right now for ... multi-thousands of units of a desktop
opportunity for Linux. That's an indicator." He declined to give
details about the Linux deals.

Though HP doesn't offer a specific SKU of a notebook or desktop PC
preloaded with Linux, several of its notebooks are certified to work with
Novell's SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 operating system and with Red Hat
Linux. The Palo Alto, Calif., IT giant also provides Linux-loaded PCs for
custom orders, such as large enterprise deals.

HP has preloaded PCs with Linux in previous years, but the market
acceptance wasn't there to do that on a broader scale, according to Small.
"Frankly, we did that in the past and didn't see the results for
it," he said.

While no tier-one vendor currently provides a factory-loaded SKU of Linux
desktops or notebooks, the marketplace chatter is increasing.

Besides HP's custom Linux PC orders and overall rising interest in desktop
Linux, Lenovo certifies some of its systems for SLED 10, and Dell said it's
poised to do the same. Just days after launching an online suggestion Web
site for customers, tens of thousands of people wrote to Dell saying that
the company should provide Linux as a PC preload. "


adam

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