Comments on: The client opportunity for Linux

By: Matthew Aslett

Matthew Aslett — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 09:29:51 +0000

I should have noted that in this post as well as the previous one, I was referring to the consumer market, but your comments about the business space are no less insightful. Could Zimbra match the description (group calendaring is a recent addition, but does work) or do you believe it is missing something else?

By: Harry Sutton

Harry Sutton — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 15:59:07 +0000

I agree with you to a point, but I’m less inclined to support the theory that most users are moving to smaller and more mobile devices, especially in the business environment.Despite the significant inroads that have been made in two of the three essential applications categories, namely browser (Firefox) and office suite (OpenOffice.org), the third, email, will continue to be dominated by Exchange until an open source alternative that includes fully integrated group calendaring functionality is available. When that happens, I believe we’ll see large-scale migrations to Linux desktops, especially in light of the pain points associated with trying to migrate to Vista.

By: steve c

steve c — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 22:47:15 +0000

Matthew, you are absolutely right. The generic desktop will continue to decline in favour of smaller devices like mobile, appliances and thin clients. Reed in the UK just replaced 5000 PCs with WYSE thin clients. (article here) They did it because thin clients consume 1/10th the electricity and are easier to maintain. Unfortuately, Reed chose Win CE thin clients

By: Roy Schestowitz

Roy Schestowitz — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 18:33:07 +0000

Matt, you also appear to have assumed that everyone uses the desktop in the same way. To many people, Linux has been ‘ready for the desktop’ for over a decade.M The question to ask is, “*whose* desktop?”

By: Roy Schestowitz

Roy Schestowitz — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 18:32:01 +0000

Matt, you also appear to have assume that everyone uses the desktop in the same way. To many people, Linux has been ‘ready for the desktop’ for over a decade.M The question to ask is, “*whose* desktop?”