Red Hat executives still in touch with the Linux desktop

By Matt Whipp

Posted on 26 Mar 2004 at 17:22

Red Hat's desktop plans are in full swing, according to execs at today's London leg of its World Tour.

Despite dropping further development of Red Hat 9 from 30 April and focussing on the server market, Red Hat hasn't taken its eye off the desktop game.

Currently, the nearest thing to a Linux desktop from Red Hat is the workstation version - Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS. But Deb Woods, VP of Product Management said that Red Hat developers are 'scurrying' around pretty quickly on that, but that the company won't make announcements on a delivery until shortly before its release.

Jeremy Hogan, Community Relations Manager, also said that Red Hat has to look to the desktop. To rely solely on servers in the enterprise would leave the company open for a competitor to come in and undercut it on price, he said, so broadening the product line is essential.

And even though Microsoft has extended support for its legacy Windows 98 and upwards to the middle of 2006, there are still plenty of areas where even Windows 95 is being used, such as bank branch offices, where a Linux desktop would satisfy concerns of security and reliability and offer significant cost savings compared to upgrading to the latest Windows. This, coupled with Microsoft's new licensing policy and rumours of a 'Windows XP Reloaded' between now and Longhorn may put enough upgrade hurdles in front of Windows users to make them consider the Linux alternative before signing another cheque to Redmond.

Still, Red Hat isn't about to rattle Microsoft's hold on the consumer market for now, at least. Deb Woods said a Linux desktop for the home user was not on Red Hat's list of priorities right now.