IBM to launch Linux desktop support

IBM Global Services is moving ahead with a global support program for the Linux desktop due to be available within one year.

At the first Linux Desktop Consortium conference, a key IGS executive said increasing customer interest is prompting the development of a comprehensive, general-purpose technical support program to replace what is now a custom service offered to only a handful of customers.

'Linux is ready to blossom in the desktop,' said Samuel Docknevich, a Linux and grid services executive at IGS Americas. 'Support is a big issue in the world of desktops. We're putting together a support plan for the Linux desktop. Big customers want Level 2 and Level 3 support. We're not there today but will be there next year.'

IBM's announcement comes less than a week after Novell announced its US$210 million planned acquisition of SUSE Linux and strategy to expand its 24x7 technical support program and Linux support to corporate customers on a global basis.

One leading voice in the open-source community said the IGS announcement - delivered with an illustration of a penguin biting the heels of Microsoft Chairman
Bill Gates - shows that Big Blue is for the first time aggressively endorsing Linux on the desktop side, which will cause consternation in Redmond.

'It's a substantial move for them, and it shows they expect Linux desktop to follow the same curve as the Linux servers,' said Bruce Perens, a well-known Linux/open-source activist who used to head up HP's open-source effort. 'It's a pure services play. IBM is now saying they're ready to support their customers on the desktop.'

Docknevich noted that IBM - which tossed US$50 million at Novell last week toward the purchase price of SUSE - will support both Red Hat and Novell SUSE Linux desktops. The Novell-SUSE consolidation, he claimed, will be a positive for Linux on the desktop.

'It's good for business and good for Linux because it will force innovation to happen quicker,' he said. 'But one size doesn't fit all.'

IBM currently has enterprise agreements in place with both vendors and offers limited, customised desktop support for some using Red Hat's Bluecurve user interface, sources have said.

IBM cited a recent IDC study saying that Linux on the desktop will grow from roughly 1.5 percent market share today to 7 percent by 2006.

At the conference, Linux backers acknowledged that Linux remains in its infancy on the desktop and that lack of ISV and technical support remains a deployment blocker for corporations. Executives at Novell's Ximian noted that the company will likely integrate the Ximian Desktop 2 desktop client more tightly with SUSE's Linux distribution.