[LINK] IBM gets hip with 'cool' Ubuntu PC deal

[Bernard Robertson-Dunn]

IBM gets hip with 'cool' Ubuntu PC deal
Canonical offers Office 'alternative'
By Gavin Clarke in San Francisco ? More by this author
Published Tuesday 5th August 2008 19:02 GMT
The Register
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/05/ubuntu_ibm_linux_distros/

LinuxWorld IBM is today expected to announce expanded backing for Ubuntu 
in a desktop and collaboration software deal to challenge Microsoft's 
Windows and Office.

Canonical, Ubuntu's commercial sponsor, has agreed to re-distribute 
IBM's Lotus Symphony productivity suite with its public Linux 
repositories. More details are expected later today.

The news follows IBM's decision earlier this year to offer a version of 
its Open Collaboration Client Solution (OCCS) for Ubuntu.

Ubuntu is, according to the suits at IBM, "a Linux operating system that 
scores high marks on usability and 'the cool factor.'"

The deal is expected to be announced by IBM at the same time it 
announces agreements with Ubuntu, Red Hat and SuSE to work with local 
hardware partners to build and distribute "Microsoft-free" PCs. Systems 
will feature the Linux distros running IBM's OCCS and other open-source 
applications.

IBM said products would be tailored to vertical sectors and be branded 
by the local IT partners.

IBM added that shifting market forces, slow adoption of Windows Vista, 
and growing demand for alternatives to "costly" Windows and Office-based 
machines: "Offer a glimpse of the ripe market opportunity for 
Linux-based desktops to proliferate."

The company will also announce Novell's Linux Enterprise Server 10 as 
the first Linux distro to be shipped with a new line of self-managing 
server appliances targeting small businesses. The appliances, Linux 
Foundations, are designed to promote uptake of IBM's Domino email and 
collaboration software in SMBs.

Accompanying the news, IBM announced the Lotus Foundations ISV Developer 
Toolkit, which it said would simplify packaging of Domino applications 
for appliances

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Regards
brd

Bernard Robertson-Dunn
Canberra Australia
brd at iimetro.com.au